


Will You Be My Found Family?

by FrostyQueen



Series: Peter’s Found Family [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adopted Peter Parker, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Identity Reveal, M/M, Parent Pepper Potts, Parent Tony Stark, Pepper Potts Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter needs a hug in later chapters, Precious Peter Parker, The Avengers are good aunts and uncles, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, i don’t know anything about the foster care system
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:40:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 19,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23455666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrostyQueen/pseuds/FrostyQueen
Summary: The Avengers have been trying to hunt down and protect Spider-Man for months now, and don't seem to know that he is right under their noses.All Peter Parker wants is to fit into his new family, and to maybe grab their attention, without them knowing he's Spider-Man.Will the Avengers find out the secret of Tony Stark's new child? Will Peter get closer to his adoptive family? Read to find out!
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Avengers Team, Peter Parker & Pepper Potts, Peter Parker & Pepper Potts & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Peter’s Found Family [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1714762
Comments: 161
Kudos: 1114





	1. My Opinion on Spiderman

**Author's Note:**

> As much as I read MCU fics, I have never actually written one before! That all changes today! This idea has been circulating in my head a few days, and it combines alot of my favorite tropes I read in other fanfics.

It was midnight on a Sunday, and in one particular room in Stark Tower, there was a twin-sized bed,in front of a wall full of Star Wars posters, and a computer monitor running, illuminating the rest of the room. The monitor showed videos of a vigilante in a red and blue suit swinging from tower to tower, saving people and stopping bad guys. Unfortunately, there was nobody there to view the video, as the room was empty.

And the person who occupied that room was also the person on the monitor.

The teen had only lived there for a few months, amongst the Avengers, who wanted nothing more than to uncover the vigilante’s identity. He was being fostered by Tony Stark himself, along with his wife, Pepper Potts. Though Pepper was kind to the young boy, Tony didn’t really pay much attention to him, which really did upset the teen. Some of the other Avengers were cool though. Steve was kind to him, even if he acted like he wasn’t there most of the time. Natasha was probably more anti-social than uncaring. 

Clint, Sam and Bucky all talked to him, which was cool, and Bruce was more like a weird uncle. Though, the boy kept telling himself he didn’t mind. He had people to talk to and most importantly, the fact that they ignored him made his secret identity easier to conceal. He never met Thor. Yet, he couldn’t help but long for the connection, as long as it didn’t come at the cost of his secret identity. 

So, the computer monitor kept running, as the room remained unoccupied. Soon enough, the window on the far side of the room opened, and in came Peter Parker, the boy who could also be known as Spider-Man. Peter crawled on the ceiling, looking around the room, as he held his breath, hoping he would find nobody there. He let out a breath when he realized nobody else was in the room. 

He inhaled in and out, feeling the aching pains all over his body. Why was this job so hard? Why couldn’t someone else do it? He looked over at his computer monitor and felt a jolt of panic overcome him as he screamed, “SHIT.”

Peter immediately covered his mouth, as he heard footsteps next door, _I forgot I had neighbors._

As the footsteps got closer and closer, he ripped off his homemade Spider-Man outfit and kicked it under the beat, as his heart beat faster and faster, as the footsteps inched closer and closer. He quickly shut off the laptop and got back in bed. Soon enough, his bedroom door slammed open, revealing a disgruntled Bucky Barnes, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere other than out of bed.

“Kid, are you alright, I heard screaming?” He asked.

“Yeah, I just, erm, fell out of bed…” Peter responded, hoping his excuse was believable.

Based on the look on Bucky’s face it wasn’t.

“I didn’t hear a thump.”

Dammit.

“You must be deaf then.” Peter said.

_Damn, I must still be in sass-mode from Spider-Man._

Bucky didn’t seem mad, but instead, rolled his eyes, “Just go back to sleep.”

“Yes, Mr. Bucky, sir.”

***

As Peter Parker’s alarm clock started beeping, he couldn’t help but let out a disgruntled sigh. Peter hated Mondays. He got up, as every inch of his body was telling him to lay back down, but he forced himself out of bed and into clothes. He left his room, and went to the kitchen, where he was sure to be ignored. But he had something he needed Tony to sign, and he felt nervous as he ran down to the dining room area

When he got there, everyone was already awake and eating breakfast, which Mrs. Potts was cooking. The first person to notice Peter’s presence was Tony.

“Hey, kid.” Tony greeted, followed by a chorus of “hey Peters.”

“Good morning, Mr. Stark.” Peter said.

“It’s Tony, kid.” 

“Okay, Mr. Tony,” He greeted as he handed the man an orange permission slip, “can you sign this please?”

Tony raised an eyebrow at his foster son, “What is it.”

“It’s a permission slip, to DC for the Academic Decathlon.” Peter explained.

Tony grunted, as he ran his pen on the signature line. Peter watched as he did so, feeling his stomach getting lighter in preparation for the next question. Come on, Parker. Just spit it out.

“Um, I was wondering if you were, maybe able to make it?” Peter asked.

Tony sighed, “I would, Peter, but I’m busy that weekend with a charity event.”

_Of course, the charity event he doesn’t even go to._

But Peter feigned his disappointment, and instead smiled, “It’s okay, I understand.”

“Good.”

The room was silent amongst the Avengers for a moment, the only sound heard being the sound of them chewing their food. Peter sat awkwardly, as he saw Natasha staring into him for some reason. Peter tried to eat his food despite this uncomfortable detail.

Luckily, Steve broke the silence. Unfortunately, it was something he didn’t want being talked about with him here.

“Did you guys hear about the Spider-Guy last night?”

Dammit.

“No, I just woke up, Cap.” Tony retorted.

Steve rolled his eyes, and continued, “Well he was out last night, and he saved two women from being shot.” 

Tony nodded as he sipped his coffee, “It doesn’t make him any less dangerous.”

Dangerous? Peter felt his face begin to burn up as he heard his mentor and his foster father say this. Tony thought he was dangerous? What would he do if he found out, nope, when he found out he was Spider-Man? Would he make him stop? Would he kick Peter out? 

“Tony, come on, the kid can’t be older than fourteen, give him a break. Besides, I think he’s doing more good than bad.” Pepper reasoned from the kitchen.

_I’m fifteen, and thank you._

“True. I’m not saying he doesn’t have a strong heart, but you said it yourself. He’s fourteen. That’s far too young to be going around fighting criminals as he plays dress up.” Tony said. “Besides, he isn’t mature yet- what if he accidentally gets people killed while trying to help, or what if he gets himself killed? A kid that young requires restrictions.”

_I don’t need restrictions!_

“Besides, where are his parents?”

Peter almost snorted after hearing this. Oh, if only he knew…

“I guess you’re right.” Pepper agreed. 

_No, he’s not! You’re supposed to be on my side here!_

It was silent for a moment, before Natasha looked at Peter again, “Peter, how do you feel about Spider-Man.”

And just like that, everyone turned to look at Peter. Peter felt his stomach begin to shutter as every pair of eyes landed on him. Oh, shit. Why was Natasha even asking him? Did she know? Probably. But Natasha would never blab. Or at least he hoped.

“Um, I, uh… he’s pretty cool, I guess? I don’t know.” Peter said. 

Everyone, once again ignored him, as Tony kept talking, “I still think we need to find him.”

Peter sighed, _No, you don’t._

“Peter, time for school, I’ll drive you.”

At least someone is.


	2. Ned at Avenger's Tower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This probably not going to be a daily thing, but I'm bored.

“Join me and together, we'll build my LEGO Death Star!"

Peter, as tired as ever from a late night Spider-Manning, turned around to see his best friend, as he felt his stomach fill with joy. Ned Leeds was the only reason he bothered coming to school… other than the fact Tony and Pepper made him go. He smiled at what he said, enjoying the fact him and Ned shared a common interest in Star Wars.

“What? That’s so cool! How many pieces?”

“Three thousand eight hundred and three!” Ned smiled proudly. “Um can I come over after school, I know your foster parents are pretty strict about people coming over, but my mom has something going on tonight, so yeah.”

Peter rolled his eyes, “Yeah, you can come over. My parents won’t mind too much… at least the family I’m with now won’t.”

Peter shuttered as he thought of his last foster family… what a nasty bunch they were, both in terms of personality and body odor. He tried not to think of them too much. It wasn’t worth the pain. 

“I keep forgetting you live with the Starks now.” 

Peter assumed that Ned, like everyone else, would have his doubts like everyone else, but that was the great thing about Ned- he still trusted him. 

***

Later that day, Peter texted both Pepper and Tony and told them that he would be hanging out with MJ, completely forgetting his commitment to Ned. So, Happy didn’t come and pick him up, and he quickly put on his suit, and webbed it to the side of a dumpster, continuing his life as his alter ego of Spider-Man. So he left his backpack there, without another word.

Meanwhile, Bucky was eating his second lunch, as his boyfriend, Steve made himself a sandwich. He wasn’t expecting much, but he wasn’t expecting a complete and utter stranger to open the door, and reveal himself. The guy was around Peter’s age- his round face angled towards Bucky, and his eager brown eyes widened in shock. Bucky was rather startled at first, but assumed he was lost.

“Uh, hey, kid, what are you doing here? And how did you get past security?” 

The boy shook his head, “You’re the Winter Soldier! And Captain America… oh my god.” the kid looked excited to say in the least, “um is Peter here?”

The dots began connecting, as he heard the name, and so did Steve.

“Parker?” 

“Steve,” Bucky said, “How many Peters would be here right now?”

“Right.” Steve blushed. “What’s your name?”

Ned gasped, “Peter was right, he does live here.” he blinked, as if remembering where he was, “Anyways, I’m Ned Leeds.”

He held his hand out to shake, which Steve gladly took his hand, “Steve Rogers.”

“I’m shaking Captain America’s hand!” He squealed.

Bucky felt, in other words.. awkward. But nevertheless he smiled.

“Peter actually texted Tony and said he was going to be out for a few hours, but feel free to wait in his room, until he gets back.”

“Sweet!”

***

Peter sighed when he reached the dumpsters, and his backpack was not there, as his whole body shaked. Mr. Stark was going to kill him! That was the third backpack this month… Speaking of Mr. Stark…

The whistle of thrusters sounded from behind him, as he rolled his eyes. Thank goodness his mask was still on, or he would be in even more trouble than predicted. 

“Spider-Man.” Mr. Stark’s snarky tone sounded from behind him. “You are very hard to find.”

Peter sighed, deciding to take his voice down a couple octaves, “Nope. I am not, you just have not been looking hard enough.”

_Damn, I wish I could be this snarky towards him with my mask off._

Luckily, Tony wasn’t suspicious about his snark, and instead asked, “Are you trying to disguise your voice?”

“No.”

“I think you are.”

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

“Whatever, just tell me what you want. My parents are probably worried.” Peter snapped.

Peter nearly laughed at the irony of that lie, but turned and watched as Tony stepped out of his Iron Man suit and towards him. Peter stepped backwards. What if he ripped off his mask? What if he found out that Peter was indeed Spider-Man?

“I’m not going to hurt you, I just want to talk.” Tony assured.  
“Well, I don’t want to talk.” 

“Too bad.”

Peter sighed, “Fine, what do you want to talk about?”

“Who are you? What are you doing? Where are you from? ”

Peter cleared his throat, “Spider-Man, being Spider-Man and none of your business.”

Tony rolled his eyes, but continued, “Do your parents know where you are?”

“My parents died.”

He watched as Tony’s determined brown eyes drooped down to a sympathetic look as he heard this. Peter has seen this look before, most notably when they first met. Peter felt guilty for saying this, but realized it wasn’t completely wrong. His parents were dead, and so were May and Ben, but his body let out a shutter.

However, a look of realization came over Tony.

“Wait, didn’t you just say your parents were going to be worried about you?”

“Well, technically, I didn’t lie.”

“How so?”

“Byyyeee”

Peter swiftly shot his web shooters, and began swinging vastly, hopefully before Mr. Stark could get back to him.

***

What a horrible day. Peter thought, as he crawled through his bedroom window.  
Luckily, Tony had not come to look for him, as he did another half an hour of Spider-Manning. All he wanted to do was to eat dinner and let sleep consume him as he escaped to the realm of dreams. He crawled through the window, mindlessly taking off his mask, and throwing it on the floor. He quietly shut the window. 

He crawled through the window, until he was at his cracked door, and closed it. It was then, that Peter jumped from the floor to the ground, landing on the floor. He felt his lungs push out a sweet sigh of relief. Finally. Peace at last. 

Or so he thought. 

When he turned around, Ned Leeds was staring at him, jaw dropped, as his hand loosened on the LEGO Death Star he built, causing it to crash. Panic overcame Peter, as he immediately threw off his suit. He heard Tony’s voice call out, confirming he was home.

“What was that?”

“Ummm.. Nothing!”

Peter whipped around to face his shocked friend, “Ned, what the hell are you doing here?”

“You said I could come over today! Captain America and the Winter Soldier let me in!”

Shit, he’s right. I did invite him here.

“Oh my god.. You’re Spider-Man from YouTube!” Ned exclaimed.

“Quiet, Ned!” Peter hissed. “And no, I’m not.”

“You were just crawling on the ceiling!”

He saw that? Shit, shit, shit.

“Um...n-”

As if on cue, the door opened, revealing Tony, “Hey kid, dinner is ready, tell your friend he can st-”

Tony stopped, as he saw his foster son in nothing but underwear, in front of his friend. He quickly looked away, as if getting the wrong assumption.

“Oh my god, that’s Tony Stark!” He heard Ned whisper. 

Tony spoke up, “Uh, whenever you’re done, dinner is ready. Um… but maybe put on some clothes first?”

“Yes sir.”

And with that, Tony left. Peter then turned around, as his friend got an eager smile.

“Does Mr.Stark know?”

Peter shakes his head, “No! You’re the only one who knows… except maybe Natasha, but that’s up in the air. But nobody can know! Mr. Stark would probably kick me out…”

Oh my god, somebody knows. It hadn’t occurred to Peter that anyone would discover his secret identity, so that was where the panic was coming from.

“I doubt it.” Ned said. “But I can’t believe you’re Spider-Man… living with the Avengers, but the Avengers don’t even know!”

“Nobody can know!” Peter hissed. “Please go, we’ll talk tomorrow.”

“I can’t believe I am the only one who knows Spider-Man’s secret identity!”

***

Meanwhile, in the kitchen Tony approached Pepper, quietly so the other’s wouldn’t hear. 

“Pep, do you know if Peter is sexually active?” 

Pepper shook his head, “No, but he has a crush on a girl at his school named Liz, why?”

“I just saw him undressed in front of his friend, Ted?”

Pepper rolled his eyes, “He was probably getting dressed.”

“Should I give him the talk?” Tony asked.

“You damn well that you won’t.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Pepper gave him a sympathetic look, “You haven’t been the most fatherly towards him.”

Tony felt his heart drop. Never had Tony been hurt by something that was so true. He wanted to be a good parent towards Peter, he did, but he just wasn’t. He wanted to connect to the boy, but he was just like him… only better. And as much as Tony hated to admit it, he wanted to keep Peter better. 

Peter must hate him!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I am planning a few flashback chapters to better explain Peter's past, and how he met Tony.


	3. The Invitation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you couldn't tell this is loosely following the Homecoming plot, but I'm leaving out some scenes, especially if they don't need to be changed to fit into the story.

“Do you lay eggs?” 

“What? No!”

“Can I be your guy in the chair?”

“That’s not a real thing, Ned.”

“Do you have an army of spiders you can control?”

“No.”

“Why can’t Mr.Stark know?”

This question caught Peter off guard as he whipped his head towards Ned. They were at lunch, and Peter had reluctantly answered all of his best friend’s silly questions. But he wasn’t expecting that question.

“If Mr. Stark knew he would kick me out!” Peter said.

“You don’t know that.”

Peter rolled his eyes, “I don’t, but I can’t risk it. I am having a hard time connecting with him as is, what if this drifts us further apart?”

“What if it brought you closer together?” Ned asked.

Peter shook his head, “I doubt it. He hates Spider-Man.” 

“Oh, well. I’m just shocked he hasn’t figured it out already.”

It’s because he doesn’t even pay attention to me.

***

Peter left the school building disgruntled, as he thought about the events that just transpired in gym class. He was invited to Liz’s party- which was amazing, but they also expected Spider-Man to make an appearance… with Peter Parker there. There was absolutely no way Peter could sneak a suit to Liz’s party. If Natasha wasn’t suspicious of him now, she would be after watching him carry a large backpack.

Of course, he was snapped out of his thoughts, when he heard Flash’s annoying voice, “See you later, Penis Parker!”

Peter sighed. At this point, he was used to Flash’s taunts by now, and simply rolled his eyes at them- he only hated Peter because he was smart.

What he didn’t expect was to hear the loud beep of the car horn, which practically caused his heart to beat out of his chest. He turned and saw Happy sitting in his car, and Peter sighed, opening the door to get in. Peter assumed Pepper was busy, but was rather annoyed by the fact that with a house full of Avengers, nobody else was there to pick him up.

Peter guessed he was at least grateful to have a ride home, even if Happy didn’t like him very much. 

As Peter sat in the back, he sat in silence, as he considered how to approach Tony about the party. Would he say no? Would Pepper say no?

“Kid?” Happy said from the front seat, keeping his eye on the road. 

“Yes?”

“Who was that kid who called you ‘Penis Parker’?”

Peter felt his face burn in embarrassment, as he didn’t think Happy actually heard Flash.

“Oh, uh, he’s just an ass. I’ve made a habit of not paying attention to him.” Peter bit his lip. If Steve were here, he’d probably rat on him for his language.

“Made a habit? Is this a regular thing?” 

“Just drop it, please!” Peter snapped.

***

Tony was also having a horrible day. 

First, Steve broke his favorite coffee cup, then he fell down the steps to the basement. He just felt very… unTony-like. Worst of all, the Spider-Kid wasn’t anywhere to be seen this afternoon, and Tony worried he scared the kid off. He didn’t want the kid to stop doing what he was doing- he just wanted to give him limits while doing so.

So, his day was horrible. He no longer had his favorite coffee cup, his whole body ached from the fall and he felt awful for scaring a teenager, who meant well, off.

Unfortunately, his day didn’t get better when Peter walked in. His eyes were filled with tears, and he avoided eye contact with Tony, as he walked into his room. Tony looked at Happy, “What did you do?”

Happy shrugged, “There was this guy picking on him, and I asked if it was a regular thing, and then he started crying.”

Tony felt a mixture of anger and sympathy as he heard this. Someone was picking on a kid? His kid? 

***

Peter sat in his room. Why was he crying so much? Flash bugged him all the time, and it never bothered him! But then again, Peter never had to pretend like everything was fine in front of other people. His past family didn’t care about him, nor his bullies. 

Peter sighed, and rubbed his temples. This was such a stupid mental breakdown.

***

Tony didn’t hear from Peter the rest of the day, until him and Pepper were making dinner. He walked out, eyes a blotchy red, and his face tired. Tony felt his heart shattered, but Tony said nothing, as usual. He watched Pepper give him a light hug, as Peter muttered that he was fine. It was bullshit, Tony could tell, because he too used that same excuse. 

Peter spoke, but his words weren’t what Tony expected, “I accidentally got invited to my crush’s party.” 

Out of all the things he chose to say… But Tony wondered, could this be why he was upset? Did his crush not mean to invite him to his party

“Peter, how does one get accidentally invited to a party.”

“I didn’t ask for an invitation I just got invited.””

Tony almost laughed, but kept an amused smile, “Peter, that is typically how party invitations work.”

Pepper was more serious than Tony, however, “Peter, are you asking if you can go?”

Peter nodded, nervously.

“Will there be drinking?”

Peter shook his head. Tony knew this was bullshit. All teenage parties had drinking.

“When is it?”

“Friday?”

“Will her parents be home?”

Peter shrugged, “I don’t know.”

“I say yes.”

This surprisingly came from Pepper, which surprised Tony, who made it clear through his facial features. This seemed to shock Peter too, as his eyes widened. 

“What? He could use more of a social life!” Pepper protested.

“Hey!”

Never in Peter’s life, had he been more offended by something that was 100% true.

“On the condition.” Shoot, Tony had conditions, “That you are home by eleven, no drinking. If something goes wrong, call me or Pepper-.”

Tony was immediately engulfed in a huge hug that made him more comfortable the longer it lasted.

He couldn’t believe this was happening- Peter actually showed him affection.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: This is a product of sleep deprivation, but I hope you enjoyed nonetheless!
> 
> As for flashbacks, I will still add them, but I may also do a whole other prequel-type story. What do you guys think?


	4. Why? Because I Said So!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is rather short, but kind of essential to the plot.

Ned met Peter at Stark Tower, where he was awkwardly confronted by each of the Avengers, except Tony- who was in India for the time being. Peter and Ned were dressed and ready for the party, Peter bringing a backpack, yet when they entered the living room, Pepper was dressed in lavender pajamas with plum spots, sipping a cup of tea. Peter’s heart dropped, wondering if Pepper forgot. Pepper, unlike Tony, wasn’t one to “forget” things that were important to Peter.

“Miss Pepper, Liz’s party is tonight. I thought you were going to drive me.” Peter said.

Pepper looked up at him, “I was, but Steve wants to drive you.”

As if on cue, Steve burst in through the door, with tennis shoes and athletic shorts, as he gave Peter a huge smile that made him flush with embarrassment. 

“Are you ready to go, Pete?” Steve asked.

Peter sighed. This was going to be a long night.

***

Peter was right, it was a long night, but not for the reasons he expected. 

Steve dropped him and Ned off, as the two casually talked about Star Wars on the way there. Steve had recently started watching Star Wars, after seeing the “strange posters in Peter’s room,” and he was enjoying them so far. Huh. That was good to know.

When they got there, Steve gave them the speech, “No drinking, no drugs. No matter what your friends are doing, don’t give into peer press-”

“Okay, jeez Steve, you’re starting to sound like the PSAs they show of you at school.” Peter joked, immediately feeling bad. What if he offended Steve with his sass? Oh goodness..

Steve, however, flushed a shade of red, and said, “Oh wow, they still show those?”

Peter nodded and laughed as he got out of the car, and said, “Thank you, Steve.”

***

Tony was in India, having the time of his life.

He came there on business, but the particular place he was staying at was rather nice. He didn’t expect it to be ruined by such an alarming call. It wasn’t about Peter, it wasn’t about Pepper, it was about that… Spider-Kid.

His phone rang, and the word, Bruce Banner sprawled out across the screen. Tony sighed, and answered it.

“Bruce, what’s up, did Peter make it to his party okay?” He immediately asked.

“Yeah, Steve dropped him off, but Stark I need to tell you something.” Bruce’s voice hazily came through from the other line.

“Obviously. Here I was thinking you called me wanting to have a breathing match with me-”

“Spider-Man fell into a lake with some flying vulture looking thing.”

Tony nearly panicked. The Spider-Kid returned… after being freaked out by Tony, and now he was in a lake, most likely drowning.

Tony immediately got in contact with Friday through his glasses, “Retrieve the Spider-Kid from the lake.”

Truth be told, Tony didn’t know Spider-Man personally, but he did know he was a kid, who was bound to make some reckless mistakes. Such mistakes should not be the reason his life gets cut short. That was why Tony felt the kid required supervision. Observing him, Tony believed Spider-Man to be capable of being a great hero one day… but also feared that without uniting him with the Avengers, he could never see that day.

“I have retrieved Spider-Man, boss.” 

“Put me on speaker with him.”

Friday managed to place him on a playground, and Tony looked through the mask. The first thing he said was, “Spider-Kid.”

He listened for the staticy sound of his fake-deep voice, “Oh hey Iron Man.”

Spider-Man then went on to explain his adventures with the flying vulture guy, rather enthusiastically too.

Tony’s immediate response was to ask, “What were you thinking.”

“I was going to take down that flying vulture guy, he has a lot of stol-”

Tony rolled his eyes at this kid’s enthusiasm, “Take him down, now, huh? Steady now crockett, there are people who handle these sorts of things.”

“The Avengers? I didn’t think-”

“Not the Avengers, this is a little below their pay grade.”

“Look, I’m not here right now, I’m in India,but I ask that you forget the flying vulture guy. Please.”

“Why?”

Why?!?! Was the kid seriously questioning his authority right now? He would expect this behavior from Peter, but not a Spider-Kid he didn’t know.

“Why? Because I said so!”

He looked around at people staring at him, and assured them he was talking to a teenager. 

“Look, I’ve got to go. Leave this alone. End call.

***

Peter was so mad at Mr. Stark right now, and wasn’t even as Peter Parker, his adoptive son. How could he be so restrictive? Spider-Man wasn’t his kid!

Well, he was, but that was beside the point. Mr. Stark didn’t need to know that, and he would never know that.

Peter knew now that he had to sneak behind Tony’s back. Both as Peter Parker and Spider-Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am trying to skip over the Homecoming scenes that don't change much from the original movie, or don't affect the plot in any way. I'm trying to make this it's own thing.


	5. The Awkward Hug

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! Time has just flown by. Anyways, hope you enjoy the update.

“Peter, are you sure about this?”

Ned was spending the night, as they were waiting for the spider tracker he had put on the guys’ suit the previous night. Peter had just told Ned that he was considering sneaking into Tony’s lab that night.

“Ned, I need a better suit if I’m going to catch this guy!” 

Ned nodded, “But what if Mr. Stark finds out?”

Peter felt a tinge of anger spray at the inside of his stomach, “He won’t. If he hasn’t paid close enough attention to me to notice me sneak out of the tower every night, he won’t notice me sneaking down the hallway.”

“Okay, but won’t he notice if some supplies are missing?” Ned asked.

Peter shrugged, “Probably not. I made a suit, trackers and web shooters using his equipment, why would this be any different?”

“Aren’t there security cameras around his lab?”

Shoot, he’s right. Peter didn’t consider security cameras to be an issue, but it most certainly would be an issue. Peter didn’t know if he checked the web cameras to make the other stuff. Most of the stuff he made was in his room, which the new suit he was making could not be made in his room- if anything, Tony watching the footage would not suspect him as Spider-Man, rather just him geeking out as usual. 

“Well, Mr. Guy-in-the-Chair, I guess you’re just going to have to hack into them.”

A smile spread across Ned’s face, “This is going to be so awesome!”

“What is going to be awesome?”

Peter and Ned whipped their heads around to see Steve Rogers standing at the door. Peter briefly panicked, as he wondered how long Steve had been standing there. 

“Our trip to DC next week!” Ned lied, enthusiastically.

Steve smiled proudly, “Good luck, by the way!”

“Thanks!” Peter gave him a smile.

Before Steve could finish traveling the other way, Peter stopped him, “Hey, do you know where Mr. Stark is?”

Steve nodded, “In his room with Pepper.

“Oh thank goodness.”

When Steve left, Peter closed the door when his tracker let out a beeping noise. Ned and Peter made eye contact before checking out the scanner. Peter gasped.

“That’s not too far from DC!” Peter exclaimed.

Ned’s eyes widened after processing Peter’s thought process, “Peter, no. This is a field trip. What if Mr. Harrison notices you’re missing? What if he snitches to your guardians?”

Peter shrugged, “Then I will tell them I snuck out of my room to go drinking or smoking.”

In retrospect, that probably wasn’t the best thing Peter could have said in this moment, which explained the disappointed sigh he had received from Ned. Peter laughed defensively.

“It’s fine Ned. I’ve kept a secret from them this long, and I’m in the same building as them! I can do so many miles away from them.”

Ned nodded, “I know… but I just think this would be easier if you told someone.”

Peter relished the idea, “And what? Then Mr. Stark knows he’s Spider-Man’s legal guardian, and he will know he has the power to make him stop being Spider-Man.”

In all honesty, that wasn’t the reason Peter didn’t want to tell Tony at all- well, at least not all of it. Peter is worried he will make him stop, true, but most of all, he wants Tony to find out. He wants Tony to pay enough attention to him to notice he’s Spider-Man. Of course, Peter hoped he found out later.

***

Peter fell asleep before he was able to get to Tony’s lab, and so did Ned. Luckily, it was the weekend and Peter had all day. Unfortunately, this came with a down side: Tony had all day to spend in his life as well… and Ned had a haircut appointment. Nevertheless, Peter went to Tony’s lab anyways, as he heard the loud blast of… was that Led Zeppelin?

He walked downstairs, sitting on the steps as he watched his foster dad work, and he filled with anxiety. Foster dad. The word hadn’t dawned on him, but Peter couldn’t help but wonder how temporary the arrangement was. That was another reason Peter didn’t want Tony to know, until he knew his stay was permanent. What if he finds out Peter is Spider-Man and immediately sends him back. 

Tony was so immersed in his work, he didn’t see Peter sitting there.

“Peter! Why are you just sitting on the stairs?!”

That is until Bucky came walking down the stairs, and announced his presence, and Tony immediately whipped his head over and turned down the music.

“Kid! How long have you been there?”

“Umm…”

“What are you doing down here?”

Tony’s tone was indistinguishable- somewhere between genuinely curious and angry. Peter gulped. He hadn’t made him angry since his first week there… which was a disaster. 

“I uh, just wanted a hug.”

Peter internally facepalmed. A hug? What kind of excuse was that? Especially towards the king of intimidation.

“Oh, uh,” Tony put down the screwdriver. “sure kid.”

Peter’s eyes widened. Definitely not the response he was anticipating, but Peter’s heart began to beat faster as Tony’s arms wrapped awkwardly around him. It wasn’t a great hug, but Peter felt good, having any sort of affection from his guardian.

“I love you kid.” 

This cut Peter off guard, as he pulled back. Did Tony love him? Or was he just saying that?

Peter didn’t answer, which was probably rude. But luckily, Bucky’s voice broke the awkwardness.”

“God, if it was going to be this awkward, I would have had Steve come get you. But, anyways, breakfast is ready.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do plan to edit this after I complete the story, so I apologize if it is messy now.


	6. Spider-Man Must've Gone to DC as Well

A few days passed, as Ned and Peter nervously awaited their decathlon trip, and Peter took every chance he could to sneak into Tony’s lab to work on his suit. Tony, from what it seemed like, was completely oblivious to his ward’s nightly endeavors into his lab. 

The day finally came, the day Pepper would drop Peter off for his decathlon meet. Peter sat in the back of the car, awkwardly, as Pepper silently drove him. The silence was nice; it gave Peter time to think about the plan for the night that was ahead of him. He had to find a way to make it to his secret layer without being seen, and back in time for the competition. His brain began to hurt as he tried to think through what was going to happen.

He packed his upgraded Spider-Man suit, that was now equipped with more durable fabric, and he even included his own AI, which he named Karen- after that robot lady from SpongeBob. Peter sat in the back of the car, absent minded, and jumped out of his thoughts when Pepper spoke;

“So Peter, are you ready for the big competition?” Pepper asked. 

“Oh, yeah, I think so.”

Peter saw Pepper raise an eyebrow in the mirror, “Think so? You spent all night studying!”

“Oh, yeah, I’m still nervous though.” In truth, it hadn’t been the material for the decathlon that Peter had studied; it was the movements of the illegal weapons dealer that he had studied.

Pepper pulled into the school parking lot, “I know you’re disappointed that me and Tony won’t be able to make it to your decathlon meet, but I just want you to know, we’d be there if we could.”

Peter didn’t quite know if he believed that; at least not for Tony. Pepper, at the very least had previously shown efforts of trying, and she even made it to a few of his marching band competitions, and even some of the smaller decathlon meets. Tony just… didn’t.  
Nevertheless, Peter put on a fake smile, and lied, “I know.”

Pepper parked the car, near where the other members were meeting, and she turned and smiled at her foster son. She leaned over the center console and gestured for a hug, which Peter happily accepted. 

“Be careful, and have fun!” 

Peter smiled, “I will.”

He then stepped out of the car, and walked towards the group, feeling happy seeing Flash’s shocked face as the car of Pepper Potts drove away.

***

Later that night, Peter sat in the hotel room with Ned, as he got dressed in his Spider-Man suit. Ned looked up at him, “Are you sure about this, Peter? I mean Mr. Stark was very clear when he told you to stay out of this- if he finds out you’re doing this, you can risk him finding out.”

Peter pulled the shirt part of his suit over his head, “And if I don’t do this many people will get hurt.”

Ned looked at him, and opened his mouth as if to rebuttal, only to quickly close it back, and observe Peter’s face. He ended up sighing, “Okay, if you think this is the way to go.” 

“I do. Besides, what is the worst that could happen?”

***

To answer his own question, getting stuck in a warehouse was the worst thing that could have happened. 

He was amazed when he tried out his suit, and was instantly able to reach the tracker. From there, Karen guided him until they were at the warehouse. He then landed on his face, in front of the criminals, completely humiliating himself. The rest of the fight was a blur to him, but all he knew now, was he was stuck in this stupid warehouse, with no hope of getting out until morning. So much for making it back in time. 

To pass the time, he tried out his suit and tried to get in touch with Ned. For a moment, he did consider contacting Tony- but he didn’t know what he was going to say. “Yes I’m Spider-Man, and I have been sneaking behind your back in multiple ways! Haha, anyways, can you call someone to come get me.”

No way. There was no way he was going to reveal his identity- he was starting to feel more at home, and he didn’t want that to be ruined by this. 

***

Peter was having a horrible day. Not only did he miss his decathlon meet, but his friends were in danger. He raced to the Washington Monument, as he looked up, and realized that his friends were in there. He then began climbing the side of the Washington Monument, his powers doing him good. As he got closer and closer to the top, the more information Karen gave that nearly made him panic. 

Peter was not over the fact that his friends almost died. So did he, but this was new… he felt a sigh of relief each time he pulled someone out of the elevator. 

“Wait, do you know Peter Parker?”

Even though, at this point, Peter was recovering, he couldn’t help but yell back a, “Yes!”

Now, their “parents” came and got them, and Peter was expecting Happy- what he wasn’t expecting was Tony Stark himself to come get him. Tony was looking around, frantically, when Peter walked towards him, and for the second time, Tony pulled him in for a hug. This time, it wasn’t as awkward. Peter didn’t even get a chance to ask about the charity event, because when they pulled away, and Tony had a serious look on his face. 

“Are you okay? Do I need to sue anyone? I swear, I’ll sue the school!”

Peter shook his head, shocked by his guardian’s worry, “No, don’t sue the school Mr. Stark, I’m fine! It wasn’t the school's fault. Besides… Spider-Man saved me.”

Tony’s eyes widened, “Spider-Man was here?”

Peter nodded, “He was.”

Tony’s face was unreadable, and Peter hoped he didn’t blow his cover, however, Tony just shook his head. “I guess Spider-Man decided to spend the weekend in DC as well.”

“I guess.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't as good as it could have been, but pretty good considering it is 1 am. On the bright side, one of the Avengers (not Tony) will discover Peter's secret next chapter. Guess who!
> 
> Anyways, thank you for reading!


	7. The Deal

The weekend went faster than normal, and Peter managed to spend more time with Tony. It wasn’t a lot of time, but he did manage to help him in his lab, and there were some conversations. Simple conversations. Peter learned that Tony’s favorite color was red, just like Peter’s, and his favorite band was AC/DC. This was discovered when Tony put on some music to work to, and Peter yelled, “I love Led Zeppelin!”

Apparently, this was not the right band, as Tony turned to playfully glare at him, “Get out of my lab, now!”

Apparently, Peter didn’t recognize the playfulness in his voice, because he did stand up and began walking away. Tony’s eyes widened, “No, kid, I was joking! Please stay!”

Peter stopped and sat down. He felt quite happy- Tony wanted him to stay? He sat down, and they began talking. For the first time in a while, Peter felt like Tony cared about him. This was the closure Peter had hoped for after the first week. However, it all came to a halt when Tony’s phone began ringing, and he looked down, his smile flipping into a frown. 

“Sorry kid, this is Nick Fury- I have to take it. Be right back.” And with that, Tony left.

Peter sat silently. Before getting up and leaving. He knew Tony would take a while, and he could use a break.

***

Natasha sat there, in the common room, observing the video, as she tried to make sense of it. On her screen, that Spider-Kid was shown, climbing the tower. Natasha had her suspicions, but this pretty much confirmed them. How else would Spider-Man, a vigilante that, up until this point, was limited to New York, be in Washington DC, the same weekend Peter was?

Also, the way the kid acted at meal times, when conversations about Spider-Man would spawn was strange. It was almost like he wanted Tony to like him. At first, it was simply weird that the boy had such an emotional attachment towards this Spider-Kid, but it was all starting to make sense. When Tony or Steve would theorize about Spider-Man’s motives in fights, Peter always had this smirk on his face like he knew something they didn’t.

Everyone else didn’t notice, and perhaps in other circumstances Natasha wouldn’t have either. But she was a spy- and she was trained to pick up on things like this. Natasha could have been wrong though, so there was one way to find out.

When Peter walked into the kitchen, probably for something to drink, Natasha said, “Hey, Spider-Man.” 

She watched Peter freeze, as the glass he held, shattered across the floor. That told her all she needed to know. He did turn to face Natasha, his brown eyes wide in shock, as if he was unsure of what he just said. Bucky came running in frantically, probably due to the sound of breaking glass. He paused when he saw the look Peter and Natasha were exchanging.

“What’s going on?”

Peter ignored him, as his voice came out fearful and timid, “What did you just say?”

Natasha raised an eyebrow, “Based on that look, I’d say you know what I said, and my suspicions were right.”

Bucky’s face grew even more confused, “Suspicions?”

Natasha looked at Bucky, “Peter has been keeping a secret from us, haven’t you Peter?”

Peter shook his head, robotically, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Natasha knew he was lying, and honestly, it hurt a bit when he was trying to keep it from us. Did he trust her so little?  
“Excuse me, but what is the big secret?” Bucky asked, still oblivious.

It seemed Peter had finally given up lying to them, and looked at Bucky, rather ashamed, “I’m Spider-Man.” 

Bucky’s face instantly filled with mixed emotions; shock, horror, anger. 

“What did you just say?” Bucky hissed. 

Peter bit his lip. This was exactly why he didn’t want to tell anyone, but at this point, there was no way out of it- two of his guardians already knew. Natasha was smirking in victory, as Peter just admitted to her suspicions.

“I’m Spider-Man.” Peter said again, this time, a little bit louder. 

“Yeah, I know what you said, but explain it to me. I want to know what made you think running around in a onesie, playing hero was a good idea. And why did you not tell anyone? I want to understand your thought process.” Bucky growled. 

Peter hoped to god Tony couldn’t hear. But he was now floors away from him, right now.

“I got these powers a few months ago- remember when I got sick after my trip to Oscorp?” 

Bucky nodded, “We thought you were going to die, and then you miraculously got better.”

Peter nodded in confirmation, “Well, that wasn’t the only thing that happened; I also got really sticky, and well, my senses were dilated. I didn’t tell you at first, because I didn’t want to worry you guys. I started doing this when I went to Delmar’s one day, and saw a girl get robbed, and I stopped it. I then remembered my Uncle Ben and Aunt May… would I have been able to stop it if you had these powers. So, I hid my face. I didn’t want to tell you, because I knew you’d get mad.”

“Well you were right!” Bucky snapped.

Natasha glared, “Bucky!”

Bucky glared back, “What? I don’t know whether to be pissed or proud!” 

Natasha looked at Peter sympathetically, “Look, Peter, I know you’re trying to help people, and that’s admirable. But you’re fifteen, this is dangerous. You need our help.”

Bucky sighed, “And if you’re doing this because of your aunt and uncle, that wasn’t your fault, so you don’t need to risk your life to make up for it. They’d be proud of you kid.”

Peter was grateful for the sentiment, but he continued, “You can’t make me stop… this persona. It’s a part of me now.”

There was a moment of silence, and Bucky and Natasha seemed to have a visual conversation.

“Peter, as much as we’d love to say yes, we aren’t technically your legal guardians, so only Pepper and Tony can make this decision.” Peter said.

Peter’s stomach swirled and he became dizzy, “Pepper and Tony cannot know!” 

Bucky’s face grew soft, “Peter, look, we can’t keep this a secret from them forever.”

Peter felt like crying. Tony was going to kill him; for sneaking around his back in two different ways. Peter felt a lump in the back of his throat; he felt sick.

“He’ll kick me out!”

Bucky and Natasha’s eyes widened.

“Peter, he wouldn’t…” 

Peter shook his head, “I don’t know if he would. I’ve been kicked out before, for stupider things. Why would this be different?”

“Because Tony’s not like that. He’s an asshole, but he’s not that big of one!”

There was a brief silence between the three. Bucky then looked at Peter.

“I’ll make you a deal. I will give you a chance to come clean to Tony, yourself, because it is your secret, afterall.” Bucky said. 

Peter became even more nervous, as he continued listening.

“I will give you a week. If you don’t tell Tony by next Sunday, I will.” 

Peter thought about it for a moment. Of course, he so badly wanted to not take this deal, but at this point, it was his best option. He reluctantly thought of any other way, but assumed the truth would better come from him than Bucky. So he reached his hand out and shook Bucky’s hand.

“Deal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It started great, but ended... not so great. I hope you liked the quicker update...


	8. Skipping School

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back so quickly! I was just eager to continue writing, and I feel like this chapter is more connective than anything, but the next few chapters are going to be HUGE. I don't know if you know by now, but Tony is finding out soon. 
> 
> But a few things before I start. 
> 
> 1\. In this story so far, Peter is being FOSTERED by Pepper and Tony. He hasn't officially been adopted by them. I am just going to start off by making that clear (though it has been stated alot of times, I know brains tend struggle to recognize foster from adoptive). I am not saying this from any instance in particular, just that is important to note here, because if you didn't know that... this chapter may become confusing. 
> 
> 2\. I also want to say, that because of certain decisions I've made in writing this story, and because of the way I really want things to play out, I may have tweaked the timeline of events a bit. The tweaks may not even be that big for some people, but, I just wanted that.
> 
> And wow! I am so glad that last chapter was so well received... I thought it sucked lol.

Peter’s anxiety spiraled in and out, as he considered how he would tell Tony. He wasn’t necessarily worried about Pepper; she probably wouldn’t be happy about it, but she’d be Bucky and Natasha level unhappy. Tony, however? He was his childhood hero, and he had also given Spider-Man a direct order. What would he do if he had not only discovered he was Spider-Man, but had been sneaking around behind his back?

Monday, Bucky let him stay home from school… and even called in sick for him. His school didn’t seem to question the fact that his forms said Tony Stark, but the voice on the phone didn’t belong to Tony Stark. Bucky didn’t bother telling Pepper or Tony; he only figured Peter wanted a day home from school to figure things out.

Bucky did walk in and sat on the edge of the bed, looking at Peter’s emotionless face, “I told the school you had the flu.”

“Thanks.”

Bucky observed him for a moment, “I know this sucks right now, but things will be better once you tell him.”

Would it? Peter shook his head. He needed to find a way to shut the illegal weapons thing down before the week was over.

“Anyways, don’t come out of your room, Pepper and Tony don’t know I called you in.” Bucky advised.

Peter nodded. Bucky then left, and Peter pulled his blanket over himself, to give him some sort of security. He was most likely being dramatic, but he wanted to escape. Go somewhere else-  _ anywhere  _ else. But, what good would that do? He’d be homeless, and his parents would be mad at him.

He heard a ping on his phone, so he reached for it. 

**_Ned:_ ** _ Where are you? _

Peter didn’t want to type a response. He didn’t want to explain everything that was going on, but he felt bad leaving his best friend on read, so he gave a vague response.

_ Natasha and Bucky found out I’m Spider-Man. I’m taking a day off to sort my thoughts out before revealing myself to Tony. I’ll tell you more tomorrow. _

Then he threw the phone on the bed. He closed his eyes, before his door opened, and he jumped when he saw Tony standing in his doorway, staring disappointed at him. His brown eyes stared at him, observantly. What were they thinking? 

_ Tell him. _

Tony gave him a confused look, “What are you still doing here? School started three hours ago!”

_ Just tell him, he’s right there.  _

“I ditched.”

Tony’s face looked like it was trying to decide between being amused and being stern, “You know, it’s not like you…”

Peter shook his head, “You know, everyone breaks the rules sometimes, Mr. Stark.”

Tony looked at him, as if trying to decide whether or not to punish him or not. He then sighed, “I feel like I’d be a hypocrite if I made you go to school now… so take the rest of the day off, but if this happens again, there will be consequences.”

Peter took this as a warning. He felt a nervousness fill his stomach, as Tony stepped out of the room. He heard a laugh outside, as Tony’s footsteps followed him away from Peter’s room. Peter sighed, and then mentally beat himself up.

“Why couldn’t you have just told him, you coward?” 

***

“So you just let him stay home?” Pepper demanded.

Tony shrugged, “I would be a hypocrite if I made him go. I skipped school once or twice when I was his age.”

Pepper was not fond of his decision, Steve took Pepper’s side, and Bucky, surprisingly, took Tony’s side. Natasha was indifferent, and so was Thor. But Pepper did not back down.

“Okay, but he is not you!” Pepper yelled. 

Tony shrugged, “I told him if it happened again, I would punish him.”

Steve looked at Pepper, “I mean, I still disagree with the decision, but at least there’s that.” 

Pepper closed her eyes and let an irritated sigh, “Can someone go get Peter for lunch, because, apparently, he’s not at school today?” Natasha left, to go get him, as Pepper continued, “I mean, seriously, why haven’t we even got a phone call about him skipping school?”

“About that…”

Steve snapped his head towards his boyfriend, “BUCKY!”

Tony was now laughing, because apparently he found it hilarious how he did that. So, as Natasha went and got Peter, everyone else went and got the table set. Pepper gave her husband a glare. 

“You know, before we make a decision, I have to be sure you are  _ mature  _ enough to handle this. Peter isn’t you, he isn’t an adult who you can let do whatever he wants, he is a  _ kid _ .” Pepper said. 

Pepper watched as Natasha brought Peter in, and he sat down. The boy looked tired, and Pepper assumed that to be the reason he skipped. In all honesty, if Peter came to her, and told her he needed to stay home from school, or go in late, because he didn’t get enough sleep, she may have considered…

“I know you’ve been spending more time with him, and you  _ know  _ how much I want to do this, but I also need to see you want to put forward more of an effort, before this becomes official.” Pepper said to him. 

Tony nodded. “I will.”

“I need to see it.”

Tony nodded, “How do you think he would react when he finds out we’re officially adopting him?” 

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter was short, but I hoped you enjoyed it anyways. ALSO I will be doing a prequel or sequel, after this is done. I have a few ideas, and I'll let you guys pick in a few chapters. They most likely will take place in the same timeline as this story, but won't necessarily continue this storyline. 
> 
> Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed, even though it wasn't short.


	9. Why to Never Leave Detention

Peter should’ve known he would have gotten detention. 

But, thinking back on it, the detention started the mess that was that Tuesday.

Peter came into school, and immediately started hearing rumors spreading like a game of telephone- they kept spreading, yet each version had a bit of inaccuracies. For a moment, he forgot about what was going on in his life, but, of course, he was about to get a dose of reality. 

When he got to school, it was apparently Spider-Man spirit day, and Peter would be lying if he said that he didn’t get cocky. Peter was looking for Ned, as he did call him last night to tell him what was going on. So, when Ned yelled, “Dude!” he expected alot of questions.

Instead, he asked, “What is it like being famous when nobody knows it’s you?”

Peter smiled, “It’s good actually.”

“Should we tell everyone?”

Peter silently laughed at Ned’s inability to keep a secret, but shook his head with a serious face, “No.”

“Should  _ I  _ tell everyone?”

Peter shook his head, and gave him a small smile, “No, no, that’s not a good idea.” 

Ned nodded, “Yeah, you’re probably late. Anyways, come on, we’re gonna be late for class.”

Looking back, Peter knew the rest that followed was against his best judgement, “Oh, I’m not going to class.”

_ I need to catch the guy, so I can finally tell Mr. Stark my secret! _

But, even Ned looked disappointed at this, “Dude, you are already in so much trouble for ditching the decathlon team.”

Peter began whispering, to ensure nobody heard him, “I figured it out, alright? The winged suit guy is stealing from damage control, and when he steals from damage control, that’s how he builds the weapons, so all I gotta do is catch him!”

Again, looking back at that, he was definitely overconfident in the investigating he had done in DC and last night, but his overconfidence there didn’t match up to the cockiness that followed. 

“Ned, I’m probably never going to come back here.” Peter said. Probably a stupid decision in retrospect.

“So what, you’re going to become a high school drop out?” Ned was confused. 

Peter didn’t even know what came across him in the next sentence, “Dude, I’m far beyond high school right now!”

When he turned, and saw Principal Morita, who firmly said, “Mr. Parker! My office!” he knew he was in trouble.

***

“So you got detention. You screwed up. You know what you did was wrong.”

The Captain America PSAs were a whole lot awkward when you lived with him, and especially if he treated you like an uncle. It was like getting in trouble, without getting in trouble. Yet, Peter knew, at this point, the starks had been contacted, so he already  _ was  _ in trouble.

Panic welled up inside his stomach, as he looked at the boring walls of the detention room. Michelle Jones, who Peter was almost certain didn’t have detention, was sitting there, drawing Coach Wilson on the sheet of paper. Peter felt his breath getting heavier and heavier, until finally he couldn’t take it anymore. He walked out, hearing the lazy protests of Coach Wilson.

***

In retrospect, Peter didn’t know what he was thinking. Leaving detention, and now he was sitting down on a building, trying to figure everything out. He had just found his  _ spy _ der robot in a ferry that was leaving- but why was it there. As he watched the ferry begin to take off, he heard Karen say, “Incoming call from Pepper Potts.”

Peter knew this was about detention, and he felt absolutely awful when he told Karen, “Hang up, I can’t talk right now.”

And she did. Peter then noticed the boat was beginning to leave the dock, and when it did, he swung onto the top. He spotted the buyer in the ship, and ordered the spyder to keep an eye on it. He crawled to the other side of the boat, where he saw three guys. 

He asked, “Who’s the guy on the left?”

Karen then responded, “Matt Gargen, extensive criminal record, including homicide record, including homicide. Would you like me to activate instant kill?”

“No!” 

A new man appeared around the corner, and said, “White pickup truck.”

_ White pickup truck. That had to mean something.  _ Matt Gargen nodded at the other guy as he left, and Peter said, “Droney, scan the boat for a white pickup truck.”

Droney left, and soon enough, it sent footage of the weapons to Peter, as Peter thought it was too perfect. Peter was too busy mentally working through everything when Karen said, “Incoming call from Tony Stark.”

Peter almost hung up in a panic- if he didn’t want to talk to Pepper, he  _ definitely  _ didn’t want to talk to Tony. But he wasn’t quick enough to hang up on him.

“Peter Benjamin Parker!”

Peter cringed at his full name, as his foster father’s pissed off face took up his whole screen. 

“Uh-”

Tony glared at him, but Peter wasn’t quite sure if Tony knew he could see him, “So tell me why exactly you thought it was a good idea to not only  _ ditch  _ your school field trip, but also run away from detention. I mean, do you have any idea how worried sick we are about you? Pepper is sitting here crying.”

Peter was too distracted to pay attention, so the words Tony was saying were going over his head. He heard Pepper’s name, and felt awful for making her cry, but hoped she would know and understand soon. 

“Look, Mr. Stark, I’m really busy right now, and you can yell at me later, but I-” 

“Are you even listening? Do you even care? I thought I knew you better, but obviously I don’t. I’m disappointed in you.” Tony said.

Peter felt his heart snap into two. Disappointed? Was he about to send him back? He so badly wanted to tell Tony right then and there he was Spider-Man, but he was interrupted by a ship’s horn, to which Tony asked, “What was that?”

Peter looked around, and gasped for air as the heartfelt moment and he said, “I gotta go, bye!”

***

Peter should have known better- he should have had more faith in Tony to have it under control, and maybe then, he wouldn’t be in this situation. Peter didn’t know what to do; the boat was sinking, and these people were going to drown, and it was all his fault. Fear rumbled inside of him, as Karen told him he was 98% successful, and as he held onto his webs, as he tried to pull the two halves of the ship back together.

And then it happened. The boat was pulling itself back together, as if by magic, confusing Peter. The teen superhero’s heart jolted when he saw Iron Man through the window. He stared right atIron Man. What was going on? Did Tony know?

The rest of the fight was a blur. Peter asked to help, and Tony benched him and Peter sat on top of a building thinking through everything, as he heard a whistle of thrusters behind him. Peter turned around, mask still on. 

“Is everyone okay?” Peter asked.

“No thanks to you.” 

Peter’s stomach began to bubble. Was he  _ seriously  _ going to sit here and blame him?  _ He  _ was the one to ignore his warnings.  _ He  _ was the one who did nothing as Peter did everything in his power to stop those people. And for what?

“No thanks to me? How about no thanks to you!  _ You don’t even know who I am  _ outside this mask, and you are still giving me orders like I work for you.” Peter snapped.

What had gotten into him? Why was he talking to Tony like this?

“Yes, you don’t work for me, but my  _ son  _ was on the ship, and he could have been killed!” Tony snapped.

There was a moment of silence between them, as Peter quickly looked away. At that moment, Peter couldn’t even appreciate the fact Tony just called him  _ son _ . Peter felt his stomach drop, as he looked over at Tony who continued to glare at him stepping forward.

“But you already knew that, didn’t you, Peter?” 

Peter’s eyes widened, as his foster father revealed he knew his secret. Tony stepped closer to him as he continued;

“You know, it all makes sense now. The constant lying, sneaking out, ditching school. It all makes sense.” Tony laughed humorlessly. “I can’t believe I didn’t figure it out until now. It’s so obvious.” 

As Tony inched closer, Peter backed up. It was over. Spider-Man was over. Quite possibly his growing relationship with Mr. Stark. A home. He’d never see Pepper again. Or Bucky. Or any of the Avengers. He felt worthless, as Tony’s eyes tore into him, as he inched closer and closer.

Tony stopped, “Take off your mask.”

Peter paused, “What?”

“GODDAMMIT PETER, I KNOW IT’S YOU, SO TAKE OFF YOUR FUCKING MASK!” Tony screamed.

Peter had never heard Tony scream so hard, so he knew he wasn’t playing. Peter reluctantly and timidly took off the mask, as his hands shook, and tears blurred his vision. He couldn’t even bear to look at his foster father- if he was even allowed to call him that anymore. 

“I knew it.” Tony hissed. He then grabbed Peter, and pulled him home, “come on, we’re going home.” 

There was a weight on Peter’s heart at that moment. Everything he created with the Avengers was gone within seconds. All because he didn’t stay in detention, or listen to Tony.

All because he was too much of a coward to tell anyone who he was. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here's the moment everyone has been waiting for. Again, this chapter wasn't great, but it could have been better. There will be more confrontation in the next chapter.


	10. Confrontation

Peter was dragged to Tony’s Audi, which was a few blocks down from the ferry, and he got in the backseat- he didn’t want to sit in the front seat, as that would have felt more awkward than it already was. When Tony got into the car, he slammed the door  _ hard,  _ which called Peter to flinch where he sat in the back. The ride home was silent, as horrible thoughts surrounded his mind.

He was not only about to confront the feelings he had kept bottled up, he was about to tell Pepper, Steve… everyone. Tony already knew, and hated him. So, as the Audi pulled up to Avengers tower, he felt his stomach jolt in fear. He sighed. It would be so easy just to run away- all he’d have to do was outrun Mr. Stark.

Yet, he knew it wasn’t right. Besides- Mr. Stark would eventually find him, and he knew his fate would be worse. Peter stepped out of the car, right as his phone buzzed, and when he took it out to check, he only saw  **Ned,** sprawled across the top, when Tony walked over to him.

“Nope.” Tony snatched the phone from his hand. “You can get this back when you learn to stop lying.”

He then shoved Peter’s phone into his pocket, as he walked into the tower, without another word. Peter followed him, fearful of what was about to come next. He walked into the tower, to see Natasha casually talking to the front desk lady, Bertha. She looked towards Peter and Tony, and her smile turned to a frown when she saw Peter glumly following Tony in his Spider-Man suit, unmasked.

Tony turned to face Natasha, “Meeting on the Avengers level. Tell the others, while I get Pepper.”

Then, he turned to get in the elevator, leaving both Peter and Natasha behind. When the doors closed to the elevator, tears immediately began to form in Peter’s eyes as she looked up at Natasha, who pulled him in for a hug. In other circumstances, Peter would have been shocked, but in this particular moment, he continued to cry into her shoulder. 

***

Tony was angry, to say in the least. 

He was angry at himself for not figuring it out sooner, but he was also angry at Peter for keeping such an enormous secret from him. Did Peter not trust him enough to tell him this secret? He was boiling hot, and his breathing got heavier and heavier. He was supposed to be his father, but now, he wasn’t so sure…

Why did Peter not trust him? Why did he feel the need to keep this a secret?

But then his stomach filled with regret- but not enough to let him off the hook. Perhaps, he  _ should  _ have paid more attention to Peter, perhaps, he _ could  _ have been more trustworthy. 

Yet, he thought their relationship was improving- he had been making more of an effort to become a part of his life. So, why did he feel like he knew Peter even less now.

*** 

Steve was called into a meeting on the Avengers level, and he didn’t quite know  _ what  _ he was expecting. There were no threats, as far as he knew, and there was legitimately no reason to call this meeting. What he wasn’t expecting was young Peter Parker to be sitting on the couch, dressed in what looked to be a Spider-Man costume, with his face buried into Natasha Romanoff’s shoulder.

Gears began to twist in Steve’s mind, as the rest of the Avengers sat there just as confused as him. Could it be? Could  _ he  _ have been the person they have been looking for- the person that had been right under their noses the entire time? Bucky came in next, and froze when he saw Peter’s state.

“Peter, what’s going on?” 

Peter’s head snapped up towards Bucky, “Tony found out, Bucky.”

Steve frowned. The vagueness of the sentence, indicated that Tony knew- and the way Bucky sat next to Peter and rubbed his back, gently, confirmed it. Steve didn’t know how to feel. Did Bucky know this whole time, and not tell anyone? Steve shook it off- he couldn’t say anything, before he heard the entire story.

Soon enough, Tony stormed in, and his ears might as well have been blowing steam out of them, from the look his face was given. Pepper walked in, and looked at Peter, shocked. 

“Peter? What is going on? Please tell me that costume is for cosplay?” Pepper begged, her eyes, pleading.

Peter opened his mouth to speak, but of course, Tony spoke for him, “Oh, he sure isn’t!”

Natasha glared, “Let him speak, Tony.”

Tony whipped around and saw Natasha coddling Peter, “Don’t you dare defend him! He has had plenty of opportunities to speak for himself, but he hasn’t, so I am sorry, if I feel the need to tell his side of the story, because apparently, he can’t.”

Peter felt a sob resurfacing in his throat, as Pepper gave Peter a soft look, “Peter is this true?”

Peter nodded, fearful of what she would do to him, which apparently only made Tony angrier.

“Oh stop with the tears, you did it to yourself!” Tony snapped. 

Steve stepped up, “Tony, shut up.”

Tony turned to Steve, “What did you just tell me?”

Steve cleared his throat, “I told you to shut up. Look, I am not necessarily fond of this either, but I also think you’re being unreasonable.”

Peter was grateful Steve was on his side, as he awaited Tony’s response, and as expected, it wasn’t good: 

“Unreasonable, huh? Not only do I find out my ward has been putting himself in danger, he has also been sneaking behind my back as both himself and his secret identity, and yet, I’m being unreasonable.” Tony snapped.

Pepper looked between Peter and Tony, unsure of who’s side she was on, “Look, Tony, I am disappointed in Peter too,” that caused his heart to squeeze, “but Steve is right. You  _ are  _ being unreasonable. “

Tony turned to his wife, “So what? You’re on his side now.”

This made Pepper angry, “I’m on nobody’s  _ side _ Tony, but I don’t think this is as black and white as you’re making out to be.”

Peter’s breathing got deeper and faster.  _ He  _ was causing this, and  _ he  _ was the one they were disappointed in. Peter was mad at himself, and he so badly wanted to start crying, but he feared that it would only make the situation worse. 

“So, what, am I supposed to let him run around and nearly get himself killed?” Tony demanded.

Pepper glared, “No, but I’m starting to see why he didn’t want you to know.”

There was a pause between them, as Tony looked around the room, “My god, I can’t believe any of you right now.”

With that, he turned around and stormed off. Peter didn’t know what to say to Pepper, who just found out his secret. She watched Tony as he left, and let out a deep sigh.

“Pepper, I-”

Pepper shook her head, “Not right now Peter. I... need some time to process, I’m sorry, but I’ll talk to you later.”

After that, she left, and Peter stood frozen in that moment. Tony was mad at him… Pepper was mad at him... 

“Peter…” Bucky began.

But Peter couldn’t take it- in that moment he bolted out the door and to the one person who would protect him no matter what-  _ Ned Leeds.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was sleep deprived when writing this, and well, I'm sorry if Tony was an asshole.


	11. Found Family.

Things were awkward in the tower after that, as Tony and Pepper’s loud arguing could be heard throughout the large hallways, but the Avengers couldn’t make out what they were saying, as most of them were trying to make out what happened. Five minutes had passed since Peter had stormed out of the tower in a hurry.

“I should go find him.”

With that, Natasha left, and everyone else sat as silently and awkwardly, that is, until Steve turned to glare at Bucky, but Bucky didn’t fill up with shame… yet. 

“How long have you known?” Steve whispered. 

Bucky was tempted to lie and say he just found out along with everyone else, but he knew that would sound like a lie. So he told the truth. The whole truth.

“A few days… Natasha made a few connections with the decathlon incident.” Bucky said.

Steve’s blue eyes filled with hurt, “And you didn’t tell anyone?”

Okay, now Bucky felt a bit guilty… perhaps he should have at least told Steve, but now they had to have this confrontation here… in front of everyone… Clint, Bruce and Sam. 

“Look, I gave the kid a chance to come clean himself. If he didn’t tell Tony by Sunday, I would.” 

Steve still looked hurt, “But you didn’t tell me…”

Sam, who was usually the peacekeeper, didn't even bother speaking up. Bucky’s best guess was that he didn’t know who’s side to take. In the moment of silence, they heard the echoes of Tony and Pepper’s arguing had died down, and there was now soft talking in the other room.  
“Look, I’m sorry Steve, but it was the kid who decided to keep a secret, so it was only fair to give him a chance to tell the secret.” Bucky explained.

Steve sighed, “I still can’t believe you kept this a secret.”

“Well, with all due respect, Rogers, Peter doesn’t know you that well.” 

It was the first time since entering the living room that Bucky had heard Clint speak up. He sat there, emotionless compared to everyone else, and stared at Steve with a serious expression. 

“So, you agree this should have been kept a secret?” Steve snapped.

Clint shook his head, “No, I don’t, but as a father, I can say that I believe Bucky handled it maturely. Whether or not Peter should have kept the secret is the real question.”

There was a pause as everyone took in what was just said.

“Yet, Peter is a teenager-”

“Which is exactly why he shouldn’t be swinging around, being a vigilante in secret-”

“Which is exactly why he would.” Clint interrupted Steve. “Look, I don’t know if I agree with the Spider-Man thing in general, but it feels sort of hypocritical to yell at him for it when we do the same thing.”

Steve nodded, seemingly understanding, and Bucky felt a wave of relief push through him. Clint was on Peter’s side.

Bruce spoke up, “While I do understand that statement, I’m afraid Spider-Man’s -and Peter’s- fate revolves on whether or not Tony and Pepper understands.”

***

Meanwhile, Tony and Pepper were having issues.

It started almost immediately when Pepper entered, a sea of mixed emotions bubbling in her stomach, as she slammed the door behind her. On the bed, sat an angry, yet stiff Tony, who looked like he really did not want to talk.

Too bad. 

“Are you fucking kidding me, Tony?!” Pepper snapped.

Right now, rage was bubbling up inside of her, as Tony whipped around and glared at her. Steam might as well have been blowing out of his ears with the expression he wore on his face. He was pissed, and this was the angriest Pepper had ever seen him.

“Oh, what now? First you take his side, and now you’re lecturing me for leaving, what the hell do you expect from me?” Tony demanded.

Oh, the mixed emotions turned into pure anger in that exact moment, as Pepper responded, “I expect you to act more reasonably about this-”

“Oh like he was being so reasonable, sneaking around behind my back, with a double life. He was so reasonable that he didn’t even tell me!” Tony snapped. 

“Oh my goodness Tony, do you even hear yourself right now?!” Pepper was exasperated at this point. “He’s a teenager, this is what fifteen year olds do. You’re a fucking adult.”

“Well that doesn’t make it okay!” 

“FOR FUCK’S SAKE TONY, I DIDN’T SAY IT DID!” 

“WELL STOP TAKING HIS SIDE!” He screamed back.

“I’M NOT, SO STOP MAKING THIS ABOUT YOU!”

Things got silent after that. Is that what Pepper thought? He was making this about himself? Tony didn’t know what to feel after that. His thoat began to throb from yelling, as he thought; did Pepper think he was that narcissistic? Peter was the one he was worried about.

“I’m sorry for yelling.” Tony said.

Pepper shook her head, “I’m not the one you should be sorry to…”

Tony knew, deep down, she was right, but he just couldn’t see him forgiving his foster son tonight… or any time in the next couple of days. Perhaps that did make him a narcissist, but he needed to think things through.

***

Peter snuck in through Ned’s window, and sat on the edge of his bed, as Ned comforted him. He explained the whole situation, as Ned hugged him. They both sat in silence, and Peter was glad he still had his best friend.

As Peter got ready for bed, Ned’s mother knocked on his door, and said Peter had a visitor, and he hoped to god it wasn’t Tony.

Luckily for him, it was Natasha. 

“Peter please come home.”

Tears blurred his vision as he shook his head, “I can’t…”

Natasha pulled Peter into a hug, “You can. You don’t even have to talk to anyone, but please don’t make us more worried than we are.”

Peter looked to Ned, who nodded, and reluctantly went with Natasha. As they entered the building, he noticed the Avengers all sitting there. Bucky immediately hugged him. Steve rubbed his back as Clint ruffled his hair. 

At least he had a family, even if he messed things up. Tony and Pepper were rightfully angry with him, but everyone else was here to support him. Perhaps he did have a family... a found family. 


	12. Homecoming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, I really haven’t updated this since June. I’m sorry guys, my mental health hasn’t been the best, so the updates have been slower than usual.

Days had passed, and Tony had still not spoken to Peter, and in all honesty, Peter was too scared to initiate a conversation with him. He did try with Pepper though, only to get vague replies or nothing at all, so Peter gave up with her. He considered running away again, multiple times, but he didn’t- he had to stay, for the other’s sakes. While he did find a family with the rest of the Avengers, he still wished he had one with Tony and Pepper. 

Every time Peter would enter a room, he would get an eerie feeling that the others were talking about him, as they would all whip their heads around to look at him, and immediately stop talking. Peter hated it. He hated not knowing what was going on, especially when it obviously pertained to him.

Apparently, there was a lot more going on then he knew about as well, because he came home one day to see a bunch of things being packed up and boarded on a plane towards the top of the building, as Tony watched. Peter was shocked, and panic overcame him, as he walked over to Happy.

“Happy, are the Avengers moving?”

_ Are they? Is this how it’s going to end? Were they going to leave him behind, in the hands of the state? _

Happy, however seemed unphased, and didn’t even seem to notice how much the teen was shaking and sweating. Instead, he just shook his head, “No, Tony just wants to get a lot of this stuff to his lab upstate… he’s going to utilize that more for the bigger weapons.”

Peter felt a small sigh of relief… it wasn’t over- yet. 

However his relief was short lived, when he saw Tony’s eyes glance in his direction, and land on Peter, walking towards him.

“What are you doing here?” Tony demanded.

“I- uh.”

“Get out.” That came out much harsher than Tony had intended it, but Peter didn’t know that. 

Tony was still on edge with Peter, but right now, this wasn’t the safest place for Peter to be. There were too many weapons moving around- however, when he saw Peter give him one more teary glance before racing back to his room for the night, he knew that’s not how Peter took it.

*** 

_ “You’re a good kid Peter.” _

Peter frowned as his principal’s words punched him in the gut. If he was a good kid, why did everyone abandon him? If he was such a good kid, then how did he upset Tony Stark so much to the point of not talking to him. Unfortunately, Peter couldn’t say that to Principal Morita, so he simply nodded. 

“Thank you.”

***

Peter walked through the hallways, when he saw Liz Allen putting up posters. He took a deep breath- what more did he have to lose? He already lost his parents again. Spider-Man. What worse could asking Liz out do? He remembered this as he stepped closer to his crush. 

***

_ “Bucky! Bucky! Bucky!” _

Peter was banging on Bucky’s door waiting for the man to answer, and when he finally did he looked annoyed, but not the bad kind. The confused kind. 

“Peter I’m in the middle of some-“

“Hey Peter!”

Peter froze. Was that  _ Steve? _

“Is he- Does he have clothes?” Peter asked.

Bucky’s eyes widened awkwardly, “Yes, yes he does. We’re not-“ He cleared his throat. “What do you need?”

Peter’s chest filled with excitement. “Oh, I need your help!”

***

“That’s not how you tie it Steve!”

“Like I know how to tie it!”

Pepper rolled her eyes, as she walked through the hallways. It wasn’t uncommon to hear Bucky and Steve arguing in these parts, but she froze when she heard Peter’s voice.

“I told you we should have watched the tutorial!”

“Tutorials are for wusses!” Bucky retorted.

Peter laughed, “Exactly.”

Pepper kept walking before she turned into Bucky and Steve’s room, to see Peter in a suit and Bucky and Steve attempting to teach him how to tie it. It had been days since Pepper had talked to Peter, and she felt guilty as she watched the goofball fumble around with the tie.

“What are you three doing?”

The three jerked their heads towards Pepper, as the elder two blushed embarrassingly, and the youngest's eyes widened as if he thought he were in trouble. Pepper felt her heart tighten at this thought. 

“Peter finally asked his crush to Homecoming, and we’re helping him get ready.”

Pepper frowned, upset that Peter didn’t come to her or Tony about Homecoming. Unfortunately, she didn’t blame him. 

Pepper smirked, “You shouldn’t be trying to teach him how to do something that even you don’t know how to do.”

Bucky rolled his eyes, “I bet you couldn’t do better.”

Pepper rolled his eyes. A challenge it was. She looked at Peter, “Come here.”

Peter tensely walked to Pepper, and stood in front of her. She tied the tie with ease, and gave Bucky and Steve a triumphant look. Pepper hugged Peter, perfectly aware of how tense he felt under her grip. She knew Peter would never say it, but he still hadn’t forgiven her for the other night… and to be perfectly honest, she still struggled coming to the realization that he was Spider-Man. 

However, there was no reason to keep her distance.

Pepper looked at him carefully. It would be selfish of him to talk about their relationship on his Homecoming night. Maybe tomorrow. She simply looked at the boy, and asked, “Did you get her a corsage?”

Peter looked at Bucky and Steve, frantically, “What’s a corsage?”

Bucky and Steve shrugged, causing Pepper to roll her eyes, and Peter to begin breathing frantically. 

“Don’t worry, Pepper,” Natasha walked in, holding a clear box with a corsage in it, “I couldn’t let these two idiots help him alone.”

Pepper frowned.  _ They shouldn’t have. Me and Tony should have been there as well.  _

Natasha handed the box to Peter, and he smiled back up to her… comfortably. Nothing like the way he looked towards Pepper or Tony at the moment.

“Anyways, are you ready to go?” Steve asked, looking at the clock.

Pepper saw her chance, “Actually I can take him.”

Peter’s eyes widened, “You don’t have to!”

Code for,  _ “Please don’t.” _

But Pepper had to. 

“It’s no big deal. Really.” 


	13. An Awkward Drive

Peter sat awkwardly in the passenger seat, as Pepper tapped the address he gave her into her GPS. What was he supposed to say? He knew they needed to talk about what happened, but still… his body felt light just  _ thinking _ about bringing it up. Besides, he was really nervous about this night with Liz.

So he sat there, hands nervously placed on top of the plastic corsage box. His breath felt short and his heart was beating quickly- it didn’t make it much better that Pepper was here. He was so lost in thought, that he didn’t realize Pepper had started driving, until she spoke. 

“Are you excited?” She asked. 

“Yeah.”

What else was he supposed to say? 

They sat in silence together, as Peter looked out the window, observing the passing buildings, tapping his fingers nervously.  _ When will this car ride be over? _

Pepper sighed, “Peter, about the other night with Spider-Man…”

_ Here it is.  _

Peter snapped his head around. “Listen, Pepper-“

Pepper shook her head, “I just want you to be safe, Peter.”

Peter looked down, “I  _ can _ be.”

Pepper shook her head, “That’s the issue, Peter. You can be, yet you still push yourself beyond your limits. The ferry- you should have let someone else handle it.”

“I tried to! And that  _ someone _ didn’t tell me the FBI was there! What was I supposed to do? Let people die?”

Peter didn’t mean to snap, but he couldn’t help it- Spider-Man was apart of who he is, and he felt like it was being stripped away. 

Pepper sighed, “Listen, I will talk to Tony. I really don’t like the idea of you going out every night and risking your life.”

“Tony hates me.”

Peter hadn’t meant for Pepper to hear it, but based on her shocked gasp, Peter assumed that she had. Peter looked down ashamedly. 

“I don’t get why you’re so upset with me being Spider-Man… you’re going to get rid of me eventually anyways.” 

“How could you say that, Peter?!” Pepper exclaimed.

Peter remained silent. 

“We aren’t getting rid of you and Tony loves you!” 

Peter twiddled his thumbs, “It doesn’t feel that way.”

Pepper sighed, “I thought you’d have more trust in us by now, Peter, but I guess not.”

They pulled in front of Liz’s house, as an awkward silence consumed the both of them. Peter snuck a glance at Pepper… her expression was unreadable. Was she worried? Sad? 

“Enjoy your Homecoming.” Was all she said, as Peter gave a nod.

He climbed out of the car, and she immediately drove off. He was lightheaded, now from the guilt of what he just caused Pepper. Peter was lost in thought as he walked to the door, and knocked. 

His lack of awareness gave him even more of a heart attack when the door opened, and the Vulture stood right in front of him. 


	14. The Vulture

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I’ve been doing a better job at posting haha.

Peter and Vulture- who was apparently Liz’s dad- stared at each other awkwardly.  _ Did he know?  _ Peter felt light headed, and his palms were now sweatier. The Vulture simply smiled at him.

“You must be Pedro!” 

Peter felt an imaginary weight lift from his shoulders. It didn’t seem as though he knew Peter’s identity, but it didn’t exactly make Peter less uneasy as he stepped in the house. He felt as though he lost the ability to speak, and didn’t even bother correcting him when he said the wrong name. 

Then Liz ran in.

“Peter you’re here!”

The rest of the time was a blur to Peter. He awkwardly handed Liz the corsage. They took pictures, and soon, he was in the car. 

_ I should call someone.  _

But who? The altercation between him and Pepper was only moments ago, and she would no doubt need her space. Tony hadn’t spoken to him since he fucked up on the ferry. What should he do?

“So, Peter, what are you planning to do for college?”

“DAD!”

“What, I’m just asking?” 

Peter cleared his throat, “It’s fine. I, um, I want to go to MIT like my-“ he paused for a moment before saying, “foster father.”

Liz’s dad tapped a finger on the wheel, “Foster father? You’re in foster care?”

Peter wanted to avoid this topic, especially with his worst enemy, so he simply responded with, “Yeah.”

Of course, Liz, not knowing Peter’s identity spoke up, “Peter is Tony Stark’s foster son!”

_ Shit. _

If there were no suspicions before, there most definitely was now- Peter saw it written all over through the mirror. 

“Is he now?”

***

At the tower, Pepper walked in, her heart beating fast, and tears threatening to run down her face. What Peter said hurt- but it was valid. He was completely entitled to his feelings, and if anything, Pepper was glad he shared them with her.

She walked into the rest of the Avengers, minus Tony, playing cards, when Natasha looked up. 

“Pepper, what’s wrong?”

So Pepper explained it to them, what Peter said, how it made her feel and how she felt as though she failed him. The rest of them didn’t seem at all phased by this, which only felt like an extra punch in the gut.

“Pepper, I’m sorry… but you can’t control how Peter feels. However, you can change the actions that have made him feel this way.” Steve told her.

Pepper sighed, “You’re right.” She stands up. “I need to talk to Tony.”

They all exchanged a glance, “He’s busy. It's moving day.”

Shit. Pepper forgot about that, amongst everything going on… the constant panic upon finding out Peter was Spider-Man being among her worries. However, she was determined to talk to him.

“Moving day isn’t as important as our son.”

***

Peter and Liz’s dad sat in the car together, as Liz was told to step out of the car. Peter’s nerves were flaring up, and his spidey sense began to tingle, however what he didn’t expect was the guy to pull a gun on him. 

“Does she know?” He asked.

“Know what?”

Peter very well knew “what” was. He knew Adrian Toomes did as well. But for some reason, it felt safer to play dumb. 

So “she doesn't, good. Close to the vest, I admire that. I've got a few secrets of my own. Of all the reasons I didn't want my daughter to date!” Adrian waved the gun around. “Peter, nothing is more important than family. You saved my daughter's life, and I could never forget something like that, so I'll give you one chance. You ready? You walk through those doors, and you forget any of this happened. And don't you ever, ever interfere with my business again, because if you do, I'll kill you, and everyone that you love. I'll kill you dead. That's what I'll do to protect my family. Pete, you understand? Hey. I just saved your life. Now, what do you say?”

  
  


Peter gulped, “Thank you.”

Adrian pulled the gun away, “You're welcome. Now, you go in there, and you show my daughter a good time, okay? Just not too good.”

Peter stepped out of the car. Great. More things to worry about. 

Everything around him seemed to fade, as if it weren’t real. Peter sighed. He just wanted one good night. Peter didn’t want his date’s father pulling a gun on him- which, ironically, was the most normal part of the night. 

He stepped closer to the door, in a daze. He vaguely remembered seeing Michelle Jones flip him off. However a thousand thoughts ran through his head. How was he going to do this? He already made up his mind, before he even got out of the car.

He sighed.  _ I’m sorry, Liz. I’m sorry, Tony. I’m sorry, Pepper. I have to do this.  _

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I’ve already figured out what the sequel is going to be! I will announce it after this story is done, but I’m soooo excited!
> 
> Just a question, the sequel is going to take place a year or so after this. Would you guys be interested in a one shots thing set up in this AU? Please let me know!


	15. The Confrontation

Pepper found Tony near the airplane, as he, along with Happy continued to give orders to the movers. Pepper had noticed that he’d been distant lately, and while it could, of course, be due to the move, she knew part of it wasn’t the move. Pepper walked towards him. 

“Tony, we need to talk.” She said. 

He glanced at her, incredulously, “Can it wait? I’m in the middle of- Hey, don’t drop that!” 

Pepper sighed, “Tony, it’s about Peter-“

That caught Tony’s attention, “Peter? Is he in immediate danger?”

Pepper shook her head, “No, but we really need to talk about the other day-“

Tony looks back to his clipboard, “I don’t know what there is to talk about. The kid puts himself in situations that could potentially get him killed… Why is this up for debate, Pepper?”

Pepper became infuriated at Tony’s stubbornness. She knew that he cared about Peter, but he was being such an  _ ass _ about it. If only he could see how hypocritical he is being…

“Huh, I wonder where he gets it from.” 

Tony snapped his head towards his wife, “Excuse me?”

Pepper narrowed her eyes, “You heard me.”

Tony sighed, pulling out his phone, “Look… I don’t know what to do either. I-“ Tony froze, staring down at his phone, “Speaking of Peter, did he tell you he was leaving the house?”

Pepper nodded, “Yes, it’s his Homecoming night.”

Tony froze, obviously cringing at the fact that he didn’t know that, but Pepper also noticed something else. A worried look in his eye, as he stared at his phone. 

“He’s leaving the school, and heading out of town.”

Pepper’s stomach jumped out of her stomach. What the hell?

***

Peter felt bad about ditching Liz, but he knew this was important… he just hoped Liz would understand. He was running through the hallways, ripping off pieces of his tuxedo, not caring about the trail he was leaving behind. What now? Mr. Stark took away his  _ good _ suit…. Peter then let out a large sigh. 

The other one was surely better than nothing. 

He quickly ran outside, only to be hit in the head by something, tossing him backwards. A surge of pain erupted throughout his entire body, as a voice filled his ear.

“He gave you a choice. You chose wrong.”

_ What the hell? _

He sees his web shooters, and races to get them, but unfortunately the other guy saw them as well. As he reached down to pick them up, he looked up to see a school bus coming straight at him, and before he could do anything, it slammed into him, throwing him into another school bus. 

Next thing he knew, he was being thrown inside the bus, as the bus started moving around, glass being thrown everywhere, and pounding against every part of his body.

_ Thank god for super healing. _

When he finally landed outside the bus, he asked, “Why did he send you here?”

“Guess you’ll never know.”

Peter covered his head, bracing for possible impact, but it never came. When he opened his eyes, there was Ned with his web shooter. He stood there, stunned. 

“Nice shot!”

Peter grabbed the webs, and threw the guy against the bus, as Ned let go, allowing Peter to catch the web shooters. Peter sent a web towards the man, as he stuck to the bus. 

Peter frantically ran towards Ned, “Ned, the Vulture guy? Is Liz’s dad! I have to let Tony know… call him, and find a computer and track my phone.”

Peter quickly left.

***

Tony felt his breath hitched, as he stared at Peter’s location on his phone, and Pepper frantically asked questions, none of which Tony had the answer to. The plane was getting ready to start. Is he trying to run away again? 

Tony looked at Pepper, “Get everyone else up here, please.”

Pepper looked like she was about to argue, but left the room exasperatedly. As if on cue, his phone begins to ring, as an unknown number sprawls the screen and Tony rolls his eyes. The plane had taken off, and now he was really only focused on his son. 

“Listen now is really not a good ti-“

“Is this Tony Stark?” A voice asked from the other end.

Tony froze. That voice belonged to a teenager. 

“It is… who is this?”

The boy said, “This is Ned Leeds, we’ve met before.”

Tony thought back… he had met a Ned Leeds…. he was one of Peter’s friends.

“Where the hell is Peter?”

Ned took a minute to answer, and Tony could hear clicking in the background, “Peter’s fine, but he needs your help. Do you have a tracker on his phone?”

Tony was becoming annoyed, “Of course I do! That’s why I asked where the hell he was.”

Ned sighed, “The bird guy turned out to be Peter’s date’s dad. He is trying to crash your plane, and Peter is trying to stop it.”

Tony was already writing down a message to relay to Happy, on his clipboard, quickly handing it to him. Tony then began to run out of the room.

“Tell him I’m on my way.”

When Tony hung up, he nearly ran into Steve, who stood in front of the other Avengers. 

“Tony, what the hell is going on?”

***

Peter just stole his bully’s car, as he got back in touch with Ned.

“Mr. Stark is on his way, Peter.”

Peter gulped. He was so dead. 

That was okay, it was better him than thousands of other lives, right? Peter got on the highway, panicking, as he didn’t really know how to drive- he had only recently gotten his permit, after all. 

This was just something else to add onto the list of things Tony was going to kill him for. 

Peter passed a semi truck, barely missing his doom.

“Peter are you okay?”

“Yeah… I’ve never really driven before. Only with Pepper and Tony in parking lots!” 

Peter continued to follow the guy, until Ned said, “Turn right, Peter.

_ Fuck. I can’t slow down.  _

He shot a web shooter at a lamp post, turning the car, but not in the way Peter had hoped. It crashed, and it went tumbling, with Peter in it. He then crawled out from underneath it.

“Peter, are you okay?” 

“Y-yeah, I’m fine.”

***

Peter stepped into the warehouse, looking hanging by a web, quickly dropping down when he saw Vulture. 

“Hey, surprised?!”

Adrian looked at him, “Hey, Peter, I didn’t see you come in.”

Peter felt his stomach fill with anger, “It’s over.”

Adrian, however, continued to talk, “You know, Peter, I really admire your grit. I can see why Liz likes you.”

“How could you do this to her?”

“To her? I’m doing this  _ for _ her.”

Peter felt himself get angry, as he shot a web shooter at him. Toomes seemed unphased. 

“I need a little time to get airborne.” 

He shot towards the wall, and he looked at Peter, with pity in his eyes, “I’m sorry, Peter.”

“What do you mean? That didn’t hit me?”

“True.” He turned around, “But then again, I wasn’t trying to.”

Before Peter had time to react, everything came tumbling down around him, crashing on top of him. He was trapped. 


	16. The Flight.

Peter struggled under the rubble, as the weight of the building continued to press into his body. He struggled to breathe, but was it his body or his anxiety. There was no way out… nothing else to do but let death take over. Too bad this was how he was going to spend his last moments- no family, proving Tony wrong.

Peter leaned his head back, groaning from the pain.  _ Tony.  _

Ned said that he was on his way… was it possible that he was here already? Peter felt a tiny spark of optimism ignite in the back of his mind. He let in whatever breath he could and screamed:

“MR. STARK!”

Nothing.

“TONY!”

Again nothing. Peter felt tears running down his face. Was he even coming? What if he decided Peter wasn’t enough. 

“DAD!”

Peter started crying hard when he said that word.  _ Dad.  _ The man he thought of as a father wasn’t coming, so why should Peter even bother? 

But somewhere in Peter’s heart… that didn’t seem right. If he didn’t try, he’d die a coward. If he didn’t get out… people would die, and the people  _ needed _ a superhero. Tony’s voice rang through his head… the doubt he had in Peter stung, but it wasn’t right. 

So Peter summoned all of his remaining energy and began lifting the rubble off of him.  _ Come on, Spider-Man! _

It was painful, and Peter had never lifted something this heavy before. He used his super strength and slowly lifted the rubble off of himself. Soon enough, there was an opening, and relief overcame him.

_ An escape.  _

***

Tony tracked Peter frantically, and his heart nearly stopped when he saw the remains of a car. He slowly landed next to it, and observed it, looking at his phone. Thank goodness… Peter wasn’t here. He let out a sigh of relief, but as he searched around, his relief was short lived. 

He found a building- or the remains of one, and he looked at his tracker and his heart stopped, and his throat closed off. Peter was here. Tony felt numb- he refused to believe Peter- his son was dead. Was this the first stage of grief? Denial. 

Tony tried his best to hold himself together- until there was a body found, Peter wasn’t dead. However, his body still trembled, and the world around him went invisible. He lost all consciencessness, and nothing seemed real anymore.  _ Peter.  _ He let out a sob.  _ He’s gone. I failed him.  _

Tony no longer had control of his body. He didn’t remember opening a car door, and pulling out his son’s phone, with messages on it from his friends.

Tony felt everything go numb, except his heart, that tightened.  _ I’m so sorry, Peter.  _

***

Peter, however, was very much alive, and every ache and pain in his body reminded him of it, as he ran through New York, chasing the hijacked plane. Peter launched a web at it, and was now hanging from the plane upside down. He was aware that the Vulture was close behind, and to be honest, he didn’t know what to do yet.

He nearly flew off the plane a couple of times-

_ Just a typical homecoming. _

The vulture threw him off guard when he swiped by, carving a giant mark into the invisible plane, barely missing Peter. This causes the plane to begin to tumble. He shoots a web, grabbing the vulture’s wing, and jamming it to the engine, causing it to catch on fire. Peter looked at the webbed up engine.

_ I can’t believe that worked. _

But it didn’t work, the engine came loose, and they were about to crash into an amusement park. Peter panicked, but switched the direction and he was now tumbling in a field nearby, pain jolting throughout his body. Still, he got up, looking at his girlfriend’s dad. 

“Hey Pedro.”

He jumped at Peter, punching him, and pulling him upwards, and tossing him around. Peter once again, landed on the sand next to the fiery mess. He looked up, and froze as he saw blue sparks coming out of his suit.

“Your wingsuit! Your wingsuit is going to explode!”

“Time to go home Pete.”

Peter closed his eyes, as the vulture came falling down, hearing a loud crash. He turned around, and all he saw was fire- a larger flame than was there before.

_ No. _

Then he made the stupidest decision of his life- he ran towards the fire. One couldn’t be a hero and only save those he deemed worth saving. So he pulled the Vulture up, and away from the flames, taking one more look around.

_ Yup. Mr. Stark is definitely going to kill me.  _

***

Tony spent the last few hours searching for Peter in a panic, but couldn’t find anything- no body, nothing. Tony closed his eyes tight. Was Peter even here when the building collapsed? Was he making a big deal out of nothing?

His phone rang. It was Pepper.

“Tony!” 

It was a relief, but what was he supposed to tell her?

“Pepper, I think Peter’s dead!”

Pepper sounded confused, “What? Tony-“

“I got here and a building had collapsed, next to it, a car with Peter’s phone in it-“

“Tony-“

“I’m so sorry… I failed him-“

“Tony! Peter is alive!”

Tony felt his heart begin to beat again, “What? Is he with you?”

“No, but he left a note.”

  
  
  
  
  
  



	17. The Conversation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An update? Two days in a row? Who am I?

Peter didn’t go straight home after the fight- he couldn’t face his parents yet. Instead, he went to Ned’s place, where he got some clean clothes- they couldn’t hide the blood, the bruises or the ashes, but Peter needed an excuse to procrastinate before facing Tony. He didn’t want to face him- if they weren’t going to give him away before, they are going to do it now. 

As Ned helped clean his cuts, he randomly said, “I got a detention for you.”

“Huh?”

“A teacher saw me in the computer lab, asked me what I was doing,” Ned explained, “and I said I was looking at porn.”

For the first time that night, Peter let out a laugh, “Ned!”

Ned pulled away, “I’m done with the stitches.”

Peter turned around, and debated what to do. Does he go home and prepare for the worst? Or does he stay here? His best friend seemed to read his mind.

“You need to go home, Peter- Tony and Pepper must be worried sick.” He advised.

Peter’s stomach dropped, “Doubt it. Mr. Stark won’t be worried.”

Ned shook his head. Sometimes Peter could be so self deprecating- which was understandable, especially considering his past, but it could make it hard to make him understand that he does have worth. 

“He sure sounded worried on the phone.” 

Peter looked up, tears filling his eyes, “I’m scared, Ned.”

Ned pulled him closer, “It’s normal to be scared, but I will go with you, if it will help.”

“Thanks Ned.”

***

Tony was pacing the living room, several emotions filling his stomach; fear, sadness and guilt being among them. The other Avengers were frantically trying to find him as well. They were all texting his friends, trying to dig up a location.

“If he was there, and he’s not dead- where the hell is he?” Tony demanded. 

“We don’t know, Tony. None of us know.”

It was obvious that Pepper was trying to sound calm, but she failed when her voice wavered in fear. 

It was at that moment that Peter walked in with Ned, scars covering his face, but he was in a pair of freshly clean clothes, and it was then that Tony and Pepper stood up and ran towards their son. Pepper immediately embraced him.

“Where the hell were you?!” Tony demanded, causing Peter to flinch.

Pepper glared, “Tony…”

But tears were beginning to form in Tony’s eyes, but Tony refused to let them fall. He didn’t… he couldn’t. Not when he almost lost Peter… his son…

“I-I’m sorry Mr. Star-Stark.” Peter stuttered. 

Tony wrapped his arms around the boy, as his heartbeat began to slow down. He was still angry. Very angry. But he was more so relieved to see Peter standing in front of him, safe. He didn’t ignore the wounds- those made him guilty, but he was relieved.

Peter was caught off guard. Why was Tony hugging him? Maybe Ned was right, but Peter knew better than to assume people cared about him. 

When he pulled back, he saw that Peter was crying, and his heart dropped. 

“Peter… listen, I didn’t want you to stop being Spider-Man because I thought you couldn’t do it-“

He paused, trying to figure out what to say. He’d never have a heart to heart like this before… how does one express their emotions? Furthermore, how does one admit that they were wrong? However, he looked into Peter’s eyes, he saw Peter waiting expectantly.

“I was scared, Pete. For your safety.” Tony finished. 

Peter shook his head. Why would Tony be scared for his safety?

Tony sighed, careful not to cry, he looked around at the rest of the Avengers, “Can I speak to my son alone?”

Peter was snapped out of depressing thoughts when Tony referred to him as his “son”. Did Tony really see him in that way? 

Nobody seemed to bat an eye though. The others shuffled out of the room, as Bucky offered to show Ned to a guest room, to which Ned squealed about how he was sleeping in Avengers tower. Peter’s shoulders tensed up. 

  
  


“I tracked your phone, and found it in a car next to a collapsed building. I- I thought you were dead, Peter.” Tony explained. 

Peter’s stomach swirled with guilt. Was that why Tony didn’t show up to help him? Because he had assumed he was dead.

“I’m sorry….”

Pepper shook her head, “Don’t be, Peter.”

Tony led Peter to a seat on the couch, next to Pepper, and he sat down between his two parents. He felt Tony grab his hand, gently- Peter doesn’t think he’d ever seen Tony this gentle. 

“Listen Peter, I know Spider-Man is important to you-“

Peter’s eyes widened…. This was the conversation he was not excited for. The Spider-Man conversation. 

“Please don’t let me stop being Spider-Man! I promise, I’ll be more careful!” Peter pleaded.

“That’s not what I was going to say.”

Peter shut his mouth as Pepper snapped, “Tony!”

Tony ignored Pepper’s protest and turned to Peter, “Why do you do it?”

Peter was suddenly speechless- for the first time since this whole thing started, Tony was giving him a chance to explain himself. Peter didn’t know what to say.

“I got these powers… months ago, and I thought, then I remembered Uncle Ben…” Peter froze. 

Pepper seemed to catch on, “Peter, that was not your fault.”

“I know!” Peter didn’t sound like he believed it though. “It’s just I can help so many people like him… and like me.”

Tony sighed. He understood, and this made him even less certain on what to do…

“Peter, you do understand why we’re concerned for your safety, right?” Tony asked. 

Then, all the pent up anger and sadness began spewing out of him.

“Then where were you? If you were so concerned where have you been these past few weeks? Huh? Why did it even take the ferry incident for you to realize I was Spider-Man?”

“Peter-“

Peter began to tear up, “I wouldn’t even have had to be there tonight if you’d just listen to me in the first place. I called your name…. I called you Dad.”

Tony’s mouth hung open.

“The thing is, I was  _ there  _ when the building collapsed- I was underneath the rubble. I- I didn’t think you were coming. I knew you couldn’t get there in time… but I was prepared to die.”

Everything stopped. It never occurred to Tony that Peter  _ had _ been under the building when it collapsed and got out. He just assumed after finding out that Peter was alive that he was elsewhere. 

“Peter…”

Peter said, “You know why I persisted? People  _ needed _ me. I-I just can’t give up Spider-Man.”

Tony held Peter as he cried into his shoulder.

“Pepper and I will talk about it.” Tony said, earning a glare from Pepper.

But Pepper didn’t say anything but, “Let’s get you to bed, Peter.”


	18. Decisions.

“You must be crazy if you’re even thinking about letting him do this!” 

Pepper was scolding Tony in a harsh whisper- as she had for the past ten minutes… or at least it felt like ten minutes. Tony ran his hand down his face, trying his best to hear Pepper out. However, he couldn’t bring himself to agree.

“Pepper, he’s going to do it regardless… at least this way I can make sure he doesn’t get hurt while he does it.” Tony explained to her, which was apparently, the wrong move. 

“Oh, so not only are you allowing our son to do this, you’re going to help him do this?!” Pepper shrieked. 

Tony rolled his eyes, “I’m not a fan of it either-“

“Then don’t let him do it!”

“-but if he’s going to do it, I’d rather he do it with my supervision!”

What the couple didn’t know as they continued their arguing, was their son with super hearing was sitting at the bottom of the staircase, listening in on their conversation. Ned fell asleep fast, apparently, but Peter couldn’t. Previous events left him both relieved and scared. Relieved that Tony and Pepper’s anger in him was now gone, but scared about the future of Spider-Man.

Not to mention, he didn’t feel safe sleeping with everything that just happened. 

He heard footsteps, but he chose to ignore them, until he saw someone else sit next to him in the corner of his eye.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in bed?” Steve Rogers asked from beside him

Peter sighed, “Couldn’t sleep.”

Steve nodded in agreement, “I understand. Did they wake you up?” He gestured up the stairs to Tony and Pepper. 

Peter shook his head, “I’m scared… Spider-Man has been a large part of my life for months now… it feels wrong to give it away until Tony and Pepper decide to give me back.”

Peter turned away, in an attempt to avoid Steve’s sympathetic look, but Steve ended up saying exactly what Peter was expecting.

“They’re not going to give you back, Peter…” 

Peter signed, “I understand you’re trying to make me feel better… but it’s happened too many times-“

“No, I mean I know they aren’t giving you back. I’ve seen proof.” Steve told him.

Peter looked at Steve, who’s face flushed a shade of red- as if he’d said too much. What proof? Steve must have read his mind because next, he said:

“Listen, I’m not supposed to tell you this, because I’m not supposed to know, but Bucky saw adoption forms on the kitchen counter the other day.” Steve told him.

Peter was beyond shocked. Steve just shook his head, and got up. 

“I don’t want to say anymore, because it wasn’t my place to tell you in the first place… but talk to them about it in the morning.”

So Peter did. He got up before everyone else, and went to the kitchen. Sure enough, the adoption papers were on the counter, and Peter stood there, shocked. For the first time in his life… someone wanted to keep him around. Then a voice echoed through the room, causing Peter to jump.

“I see you found the papers.”

Peter whipped around, seeing Tony Stark, who just climbed up the stairs of his workshop. He sat at the table, across from him.

“Tony-“

Tony held up his finger, “Ah ah ah.” he said. “Let me talk first.”

Peter closed his mouth, and there was a brief silence.

“It’s your choice of course, and I know I haven’t always been the best father… but I’m trying, and I love you. Like a son. I want to make a home for you- me and Pepper both do. We want you to be happy… but of course it’s your choice.” Tony explained. “And… I understand if you don’t want to. Especially after what has happened in the past couple of weeks.”

Peter was speechless and hesitant. Of course, Peter had his issues with the Starks, and he hadn’t quite forgiven him for the past few weeks... but he did feel like he had a home with them. Even when Tony was mad at him… Bucky and Steve were there for him. He smiled at Tony, and embraced him in a tight hug.

“I-I’d love that.” 

Tony smiled, and then frowned, “Okay, I love to hear that… but Pepper is going to kill me if she finds out I told you without her, so we’re gonna have to do this again when she wakes up.”

Peter laughed. “Of course.”

“Oh, that reminds me. I talked to Pepper, and we came to an agreement on the Spider-Man thing.” Tony said.

Peter’s heart skipped a beat. “You mean I can still do it?”

Tony nodded, “With guidelines. First, I’m going to build you a new suit- your old one wasn’t bad, but I could do better. Next, Pepper  _ insisted _ on a curfew. 10 pm on school nights and midnight on weekends and breaks.”

Peter nodded, not caring about the new restrictions. He was only excited about his new family and his ability to continue being Spider-Man. 

He was so entranced, he didn’t hear Ned walk in, “I SLEPT IN AVENGERS TOWER!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter to go! Thank you guys so much for the support you guys have given me... I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect people to enjoy this story as much as they did, and it makes me really excited to start on the next story, and the one shots. 
> 
> Thank you!


	19. Father & Son

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my last chapter... and damn, I rarely ever see things through to the end. This is the first fanfic I’d written in a while... let alone have seen the end.

Peter sat in the lab- this was the first time Tony had allowed him in his lab since the incident, and Tony was spouting out ideas for his new suit. Peter didn’t listen, if he were being honest. He was just glad to have Tony back and to be in his lab.

“How about an A.I?” Tony asked.

“I already have one. Karen.”

Tony looked at Peter judgmentally, but didn’t question the name, as he tapped on the holographic image. He looked around, as if he was missing something. He then snapped his feelings in realization, and went over and flicked on some music.

Peter smiled, “I love AC/DC!”

“YEAH!” Tony pointed to his son proudly, “That’s what I call character development!”

The music was so loud, that they didn’t see anyone come down the stairs until the music suddenly shut off. When Tony and Peter whipped their heads around, there was Pepper, glaring at them- specifically Tony.

“How many times do I have to tell you to turn your fucking music down?” Pepper snapped.

Tony gasped dramatically, covering Peter’s ears, “Pepper! There are children!” 

Pepper rolled her eyes, “Oh please, I’ve heard Peter say fuck before!” She looked at her son, “I didn’t know LEGOs induced so much profane language.”

Peter snorted, as Tony’s eyes widened. Apparently, Peter wasn’t as cute and innocent as Tony thought he was. 

“I stepped on the LEGO!” 

Pepper laughed, “That makes more sense.”

Pepper looked at her watch, “Anyways, Mrs. Leeds should be over to pick you up soon, so go pack a bag.”

Peter did as he was told, and skipped up the stairs. Pepper turned to Tony, and smiled, “He’s great isn’t he?”

Tony nodded in agreement, “Of course he’s great- he’s our son.”

“How about another one?”

Her words didn’t register in Tony’s genius brain, “Another one what?”

“Kid.”

Tony dropped his screwdriver. “I mean it doesn’t have to be soon- but perhaps eventually? I’d love a little girl.”

In all honesty, Tony hadn’t considered having another kid- but seeing Peter, and how he turned out…

“Not right now, that’s for damn sure.”

Pepper laughed, “I know… just a thought.”

There was a beat of silence. Pots and pans could be heard from upstairs, where Bucky and Steve were cooking- and arguing.

“I’m glad he’s safe- and I’m glad he’s starting to trust us again.” Pepper said.

Tony nodded, “I only wish I didn’t do what I did…”

Pepper gently laid a hand on his shoulder, “It was a shitty thing what we did… but the important thing is we’re trying.”

“I suppose.”

Pepper walked out, “Dinner is almost ready, it sounds like.”

She then left. Tony looked over the Spider-Man suit that he was making his son.  _ Son _ . Such a strange thing to think about- he was a father now… but he actually loved the idea. A decade ago, he wouldn’t have imagined ever having kids… and now his kid was the best thing in his life.

And nothing would ever change that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There WILL be a sequel, as well as the one shot thing, which I will announce once I post the first chapter. The sequel will be different, as this one followed an already existing timeline (of Homecoming) and the next one, I will make my own timeline. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and supporting this story! I love you guys! 💕


	20. AN: Sequel!

So I’m here to announce that my sequel is up!

**What is it called?**

_ *Drum roll* _

_Drifting Away_! It’s second in the series “ _Peter’s Found Family”_ which this story is apart of. 

**What is the summary?**

A year has passed, and all is good in the Stark family… at least one would think.

Of course, Peter loves Pepper and Tony, and they love him as well, but apparently, having a family is much more complicated than it seems. Peter and Tony have been arguing more and more lately, Pepper has been off, but it’s family.

However, things become more complicated when Pepper takes a test revealing she’s pregnant, and all of Peter’s insecurities come back to haunt him.

**When does it take place?**

About a year after this story, and it’s the span of another year. The end of the story will be two years after the end of this story. 

**What else should we know?**

As stated in the author’s notes, this isn’t based on a movie timeline, and the formatting of time is different. 

**Also I’m working on a one-shot series so please send me prompts for that! I already have a few ideas but not many!**

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> So how was it? Probably not the best, but this is my first time exploring the depths of these characters.
> 
> Please review.


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